Living Secret
by OCsRuleMyLife
Summary: Russia has been keeping his unknown little sister, Georgia, a secret from the rest of the world. But she's coming up with plans that might destroy everything he's set up. Human names used. Yes, Georgia is an OC. T for mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The small, young, blond girl crept quietly between two border guards with heavy coats. Her feet slid silently through the thick snow, and she left no tracks. Her coat flapped in the bitter wind, and her scarf was wrapped around her nose. The girl was small enough in stature to slip under the fence, and she did it easily. Her coat tail got snagged on the bottom of the fence, and she pulled it, making a small tear on the bottom. She dashed forward, straining her eyes to see in front of her through the swirling snow. She soon found her target, and ran up to it. It was a large concrete building, with nothing surrounding it, except for groups of armed guards. She crept behind the nearest patroller, and kicked behind his knee, so he stumbled, then, before he could make a noise, she had him gagged with an orange cloth. The snow had been swept away from the building, and she had to be more careful about her steps, to prevent her boots from clacking. She waited for the next patroller to pass by, after sufficiently hiding the gagged man, and pulled a pair of chain cutters from her coat. The large chained door was easily opened, and with her strength, it slid open carelessly. _Ivan must really not care about whatever is in here._ She slipped in, shutting the door behind her softly. The metal made a small clang, and she froze for a moment. She ducked behind a large box covered in a thick green canvas, and waited as the guard walked over to the door and looked around, his gun pointed nervously in front of him. She snuck up behind him, and took out the chain cutters again. She reached up and hit him in the back with the cutters, and he stumbled forward, allowing her to jump onto his back and choke him. When he fell to his knees, then she released him, and he collapsed forward. She dragged his unconscious form under the canvas that the box was under. She snuck down the center of the warehouse, avoiding guards behind boxes when necessary. She eventually got to the center of the building, where there was a very small box, labeled, "CAUTION, CONTENTS ARE NOT TO BE TOUCHED WITH BARE HANDS" in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, English and Chinese. At least she assumed it was Chinese. She lifted the tiny box, and pocketed it. _Whatever this is, it should do nicely._ She wheeled on the balls of her feet, and slipped towards the door again. She escaped, retied the chain convincingly, and ran away from the building, waiting until she had long slid under the fence again, and ran past the guards, and was safely home, before she opened the box. It was a small metal object, about the size of a large battery. She grinned. This was exactly what she had been looking for.

"They took the power cell, da?" Russia sat unhappily behind his desk. The Baltics were standing before him nervously, fidgeting and avoiding eye contact. Estonia piped up with a hiccup, "Th- That is correct…" Russia frowned unhappily. "And one guard was gagged with an orange cloth, da?" The three looked at each other nervously. Estonia gulped and spoke up, "Tha- That's right." Russia frowned and folded his hands. "And the other was hit and choked, by a smaller person, da?" Estonia looked quite nervously at Latvia and Lithuania, who stared back at him helplessly. He sighed with a terrified tone. "Y- Yeah…" Russia's frown increased and he muttered one word. "Georgia…" "Wha- What?" Estonia asked, more terrified now. "Nothing, da?" Russia dismissed the question with a small wave of his hand. "Who was in charge of defending the cell?" Estonia turned to Lithuania and Latvia, his voice catching in his throat. Avoiding looking at Russia, he quietly chirped, "Well… you see…" "What is it, Estonia? Who was in charge of keeping the cell safe?" Estonia's gulp could be heard echoing through the silent room. "In all honesty… it was…" Lithuania and Latvia looked at Estonia with a 'Don't tell him' look on their faces. Russia stood up, and leaned forward, his hands on the desk. "Who. Was. In. Charge. Of. The. Defense. Of. The. Power. Cell. You are capable of speech, da?" Estonia nodded, all three of them trembling violently. "It was… well… us." Russia's frown turned into a growl, and his voice was quiet but forceful. "I must have heard you wrong. I thought you said it was you, da?" Estonia whimpered a little before continuing. "Th… tha… that's… that's what… I said…" Russia put his hands behind his back and began to walk around the desk toward the three trembling people. "You all know how I feel about my rocket power cells, da?" Lithuania looked at the clock, and started walking towards the door. "Oh… I… I have to go… meet… America…" Russia was in front of the door before he could take another step. "America can wait, da? He will have to wait a while." Russia stepped towards Lithuania, his hands coming from behind his back, and snapping to the long-haired boy's shoulders. "I asked you a question, da?" Lithuania gulped and nodded. "You like them very much, Russia… which is why you gave us your express instruction to keep them safe…" Russia nodded, and his grip on Lithuania's shoulders tightened, and there was a crack as one or both broke. "Did you keep them safe?" Lithuania whimpered, terrified. "Well… no… not really…" Russia nodded again with a small smile on his face, and he lifted the pitiful boy an inch from the ground, and a purple hazy aura filled the room, causing both Latvia and Estonia to cower. "And there is something wrong with that, da?" With this, he dropped Lithuania to the ground, who staggered backward and was caught by Estonia, who was careful of his shoulders. Russia turned to the door, opening it and stepping out. "You may go now. Do not let them get any of the other cells, da?" With this he wandered out into the hallway, his boots clapping on the floor as he walked for the exit. The Baltics looked at each other, hoping no one else would get any ideas with the cells.

Russia drove his car down to the border of Russia and Georgia, and nodded to the border patrol. The Russian officer grinned at him. "Ivan! We haven't seen you down here for a while. What's your business in Georgia?" He smiled at the guard. "Remember the power cell that was stolen last night?" The officer nodded and hit a button, opening the fence gate. He waved as Ivan went through, making him chuckle a little. The Georgian guard nodded to him, having seen him hundreds of times. As he drove through the Georgian base, he looked around at the soldiers who stared at him as he went by. He soon came to a small house, obviously different than the other quarters. He parked his car in front of it, got out, and approached the door. He knocked, and was greeted by a servant. "Good afternoon, Mr. Braginski. Are you looking for Ms. Tsiklauri?" Ivan nodded with a smile. The servant nodded back, "Right this way, Mr. Braginski. She is currently taking her bath; she will be with you shortly." He led Ivan to a room with a small table in the middle, and a large chair and a small one. He sat in the large chair and crossed his legs, waiting for the expected acquaintance. After a while, a small blond girl, about six years old, with two long tails in her hair, an orange bathrobe, and orange slippers walked into the room, and stared at Russia. "Ivan, that is my chair." Russia scowled, "But Tamar, I do not fit in the small chair, da?" The small girl crossed her arms and made sure that the servants were not nearby. "Russia, get into the small chair." He shook his head. "Georgia, last time I did that the chair almost broke, da?" She made the same voice as his, mocking him, "But it did not, da?" Russia looked a little downcast, and crossed his arms. "Do not make fun of my speaking please, Tamar." She put her hands on her hips, and scowled at him. "It is my house, big brother." Russia sighed and stood, sitting in the small chair, which bent and warped under his weight. "Do not call me big brother, Tamar. You are not part of my family anymore, da?" She stomped her foot, then sat in the comfy large chair. "But you are still my big brother." His facial expression turned into the same whiny looking one as hers. "Nyet. You ran away, da? I should not have to explain to you how unhappy that made me." Georgia frowned disappointedly. "I did not mean to hurt you, Ivan. I just wanted to be free." He noted that she didn't say 'big brother' again. _If she did not want to hurt me, why did she steal my power cell?_ "Why did you come over, Ivan?" Russia sighed, and began to ask the imminent question. "Why did you steal my rocket power cell, Tamar?" She looked taken aback, and shook her head. "Ivan… What makes you think it was me?"

"You are the only one who gags people with orange cloth, da?"

"Damn. I knew I should have switched."

"I have told you not to swear, da?"

"If you are not my family, you cannot tell me that I cannot swear."

"I suppose you are right. But why did you steal the power cell?"

"I needed it."

"What did you need it for?"

"Why do you care?"

"I am concerned for my people, da? I cannot have a rocket being shot off into my country."

"I will not shoot it at your people."

"So you are building a rocket, da?"

"I suppose it would be pointless to tell you I am not now."

"Da. Who are you going to shoot it at?"

"Maybe I am going to shoot it into space."

"You know as well as I do that that cell is too small to power a spacecraft."

"Maybe I got a lot of them."

"From who? Turkey?"

"Of course not, Ivan."

"I am not missing any more of them. You had to get them from somewhere."

"Okay, so that is the only one I have."

"Who are you going to shoot the rocket at, Tamar? And don't tell me you are going to shoot it at Turkey. You like me less, da?"

"I will not shoot your people, Ivan."

"But that does not mean that you will not shoot me, da?"

She didn't respond to this, and he said it again. She looked down and still didn't answer. He sighed and stood up, knocking the chair over. "I understand." He turned, wrapped his scarf more tightly around his neck, and exited the house, hopping into his car, and drove home.

* * *

This is one of the OCs that rules my life. Please review, since this is my second fic ever. In future chapters, there will be more plot. Really. I swear. Until then, it will be mostly Georgia and Russia talking. For those of you who could not tell and were intensely confused, Georgia is a small country that broke away from Russia after World War Two, just to the south of Russia and east of the Black Sea. Please review. Please? Pretty please? Yeah, thanks. Enjoy the rest as I write it... eventually!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Russia sat at his desk, thinking about many things. Primarily, why, as much as she didn't like him, was Georgia going to shoot a rocket at him? Sure, they never got along except on Christmas day, but they never actually hurt each other badly. Why would she do that now? What changed? It was really beside the point; he now had to figure out a way of defending himself against a rocket. He wasn't going to go and hide in some bunker until he heard an explosion, that wouldn't help anyone. But after that thought was a worry. _I have been hiding her all these years, to protect her from the world, but if she shoots a rocket at me specifically, that hiding will all disappear. _He didn't necessarily like her, but he still loved her. Regardless of his constant denial, she was still his sister, and he was still her brother. He remembered when he had first met her in World War Two, at the battle of Stalingrad…

He was holding the rifle with a firm but loose grip, his crosshairs trained on the German sniper. He was in prone position, only the very end of the rifle sticking out the artillery-blasted window. He pulled the trigger, and watched as the man collapsed. He stood and turned to his spotter, Private Aleksandr Petrov. "You see that bunker on the hill, da?" The Private nodded, glancing out the window. A shot flew past them, and they both dove downward, going prone for the remainder of the conversation. "Well comrade, the Fascists are using it to call in artillery strikes to congested areas of the city. Someone has to go up there and raise the Red Flag for Russia, da?" "Naturally, comrade." Private Petrov replied. Then, with a chuckle, he added, "I suppose that means you would like me to do it?" Ivan nodded with a chuckle. "That is the case as it stands, da?" Aleksandr crawled to the stairs of the multi-story building, and got up, dashing down them, since they were on the second floor for better vantage. Russia turned his attention to covering the large man as he made his assault. He watched as the Private sat ably behind a mounted machine gun and cut down the Germans in the front defense, then leapt over the wall it was on and went forward, rifle in hand. All other soldiers who tried to follow him were almost immediately shot down, hit with artillery, or blasted by a grenade. _That is why he is my spotter. Whatever my enemy does, he has long anticipated it._ While the Private made his miraculous singlehanded assault on the bunker, Ivan covered him when necessary. Then, he saw something at the bottom of the hill. A small girl, wearing a Russian soldier's uniform and struggling to hold the rifle, sat, looking quite terrified, behind a wall that was presumably once a building. _That poor child! Someone must do something… but all the other soldiers are engaged…_ He turned to the stairs, and dashed down them, dropping the rifle, and pulling out his pistol. He stood at the corner of one wall, and was about to dash out, when a flurry of machine gun fire blasted around him. He pulled himself against the wall, waiting for them to reload. When they did, he ran at full speed to the next wall, and the fire commenced again. This time, though, he could creep along behind a connection in the two walls, resulting from a massive hole being blasted in one large wall. The bottom remainder of this wall was what he was crawling behind, the bullets flying dangerously over his head. He eventually reached the end of this, and stood up behind the wall. Now there was only one thing standing between him and the pitiful looking blond girl: a very large open space. Filled with Fascists. And one of them, naturally, was Germany. He was barking orders to the others, pointing out places for them to attack. They began moving forward, and Germany lingered, looking around. He saw Russia, and a very negative expression came to his face. Ivan knew that he would have to fight Germany to get to the young girl, but he couldn't just leave her there. He ducked behind a broken wall just as Germany sent the others forward and pulled out a pistol of his own. Russia crawled toward the edge of wall as he heard Germany walk closer, even the machine guns and artillery were overshadowed by that daunting step of boots on concrete. "Ivan, I know you're here," Germany said gruffly and loudly, "So come out and fight like a man." He stepped closer and was soon in range for Ivan's plan. He leapt from around the low wall, tackling the blond man's legs, taking them out from under him, and sending his pistol scattering across the concrete street. Russia quickly had him on the ground, the pistol pointed between his eyes. "You made a promise, da?" Germany looked a little surprised, but was undaunted by the gun in his face. "What are you talking about, Ivan?" "You promised that you would not attack us yet. But you attacked my cities and killed my people, da?" Germany sighed, "It was partly your own fault. You weren't prepared." Russia smirked a little. "Then let me tell you this. I will not stop fighting until everything German between here and Berlin is ashes, da?" With that, he punched him straight in the face, which resulted in a kick to his stomach, knocking him off of the German man. They both stood to their feet, now both lacking in guns. They were a good distance away from the wall, since Russia had dived a great length to knock him over. Germany spun another kick at him, which Russia caught and twisted, causing Germany to fall to his face. Germany, with his head now next to Russia's foot, reached out and yanked his leg from under him. Russia toppled over, now with Germany sitting on Russia's stomach, punching his face repeatedly. Russia caught his fist once, and used his other elbow to give Germany a crack between the shoulder and the neck. Russia shoved Germany off, and they both stood up once again. Unluckily for Russia, Germany had stood up next to both pistols, and now picked them up and pointed them at him. "You won't get the chance to make ANYTHING ashes now, Ivan." Suddenly, Germany collapsed, with Private Aleksandr Petrov behind him, holding a massive block of concrete. _How did he lift that block up? And how did he knock Germany down? _Regardless of these anomalies, he snatched both his and Germany's pistol, leaving the man groaning on the ground, with one last whisper. "Scorched earth is all that is left, da?" With that he ran quickly over to the girl, and she up at him with pale orange eyes. "You are not going to hurt me, right mister?" She asked in a scared voice. "Nobody is going to hurt you, da?" He lifted her up in his arms, having put both pistols away, and looked up at the top of the hill with the sun setting behind it. The Red Flag flew where the Nazi one had been, and there was a large fire going, fed by the old flag. The sun illuminated the new flag beautifully, and Russia walked over to the base of the hill, and looked at the little girl in his arms. "What is your name?" "I am Georgia." She said sleepily. He chuckled. "Like the part of this country named Georgia?" She nodded and looked at him. "Yeah. A lot like that."

After that day he had taken care of her, realizing that she was far from normal, and, in fact, one of them, like Russia and Germany. He hid her from the world, because she was very frail, and he didn't want her hurt. Now, she may just be hurting him. Belarus' voice at the door of his mansion drew him out of his memories, and he immediately locked the door, and slid silently into the closet. There was a turning at the door handle. "Big brother… why don't you open the door so we can be married!" Russia whimpered and called out, "I do not wish to marry you!" She pounded at the door. It was only a matter of time before she got in. "Marry me, big brother! We shall become one!" He gulped and responded in a frightened tone. "Nyet, little sister! I do not wish to marry you!" Then he heard the most terrifying sound of his life. Georgia's boots were stepping down his hallway. He couldn't let Belarus see her; she might kill her! He heard Belarus' voice snarling at the small girl. "Who are you?" "My name is Tamar. I am looking for Ivan." In a fit of paranoia, Russia leapt out of the closet, unlocked the door, and opened it a tiny crack. "Hello, Tamar. What are you doing here?" Belarus tried to push the door open, but Russia pushed back forcefully. "I wanted to talk to you about the thing I found." Russia silently thanked her for having the discretion to not say what the thing was. "Who is this, Ivan? Is this your daughter? Who is her mother?" Belarus pushed at the door angrily. "Nyet, Natalya, she is not my daughter. She is a friend, da?" "Don't lie to me, Ivan! We will become one and I will give you your daughters!" Georgia gave her an odd look, which was a mixture of two things; annoyance that Ivan obviously did not want to marry her, and frustration that Ivan would not open the door until she left. She decided to make a solution to both of those problems. Georgia's booted foot struck out, and collided with Belarus' shin. Belarus hopped a little in surprise at the small girl's strength, and then wheeled on the small girl. "You ARE Ivan's daughter! I have to erase you so that he may have his real first daughter with me!" Georgia looked a little frightened for a moment, but as Belarus was taking out her knife, Georgia had taken out the power cell and threw it at Belarus' head. Belarus stumbled backwards at being hit by the heavy object, and Georgia put the cell in her pocket. It would seem to anyone that she was Russia's daughter; the blond hair, the scarf, the coat, the boots, she was a small, orange-eyed version of Russia. Russia knew he couldn't shut the door, because Georgia might be killed, but he didn't want to go into the hall either. Belarus stood straight again, preparing to stab the small girl. The hallway soon filled with an eerie orange aura, like the creepy glow a fire casts, and the young girl seemed to rise in stature, though she was only up to Belarus' waist as it was originally. Her eyes seemed to dance evilly, and, worse yet, she seemed completely unconscious to fact that any of this was happening. Russia's first reaction was to run away, but then he remembered that this was Georgia, he couldn't leave her with Belarus. He looked to where Belarus was in the hallway, and saw that she was now one hundred percent determined that Tamar was his daughter. She stepped forward with her knife extended. Russia was terrified for the small young girl, and decided that he had to do the most terrifying thing he could imagine. He stepped into the hallway and extended his arms to block Belarus. She grabbed him and pinned him up against the wall. "Who is the mother, Ivan? Who?" Russia stammered, terrified. "Sh- she is not… my… daughter, da?" She pushed him harder against the wall. "Who's the mother?" Russia began whimpering, and his responses were the same as the first. Eventually, Georgia walked over to them, and looked up at Belarus, the orange aura having faded. "I am not his daughter. He is my friend. Sort of." Belarus, of course, took this as meaning that the two were involved. She pushed Russia angrily against the wall. "Her? Her? You and her? Why not me? She is not as beautiful as me. She has nothing to give you!" Georgia looked annoyed. "Not like that either, you fool. I mean that we do not get along that well." Belarus dropped Ivan, and turned on her heels, getting ready to walk for the door. "You will marry me, Ivan. You may have your conversation with this girl for a while. But I will be watching." She walked out the door, and Russia turned to his room, Georgia following him. When in the room, Russia sat behind his desk, in the larger of the chairs. She stood with her hands on her hips. "Ivan, I should sit in that chair."

"But I do not fit in that small chair, da?"

"But you do not break it."

"This is my house, da?"

"Then I am your guest, and I should get the better chair."

"But I have to sit in the small chair at your house, da?"

"But you came to blame me; I came as your guest."

Russia stood up with a sigh, and wandered to the smaller chair. He sat down in it, and Georgia sat in the larger, more comfortable chair. He looked at her expectantly, and checked the windows momentarily. Sure enough, Belarus was watching. He turned his attention again to Georgia. "What did you want?"

"To apologize for hurting the guards."

"I see. Is that all?"

"Of course not, Ivan. I wanted to tell you that I am not going to shoot the rocket at you."

"Are you lying to me, Tamar?"

"If I am, what will the difference of your reaction be from if I am not?"

"That is a good point, da?"

"That is why I made it. I also want to know who she is." She whispered, motioning to Belarus.

Russia whispered his reply. "That is my sister, Natalya."

"And she wants to marry you?"

"Da."

"What country is she?"

"Belarus, da?"

"I see. Does she not know that you do not want to marry her?"

"I do not think she understands this, da?"

"Is she an idiot?"

"I think she is just denying it, da?"

"I see. Well, that is all I wanted to say." She stood up, and he noticed the tear in the bottom of her coat.

"Where did that tear come from?"

"Um… the fence?"

"Which fence?"

"The border…"

"When you crossed to steal the power cell?"

She didn't respond, and Russia sighed. "I thought so, da?" She didn't respond again, and opened the door. "I will see you later, big- I mean Ivan." She stepped out, and walked down the hall. He didn't move out of his small chair, and put his head in his hands. _I cannot hide her for much longer… this is not good._

I hope you enjoyed this. Please please review. Future chapters will have thicker plot and not just memories and dialogue! They are just not in the immediately near future...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Russia had still been sitting with his head in his hands when Belarus returned. He felt her more than heard her. He really didn't feel inclined to resist, so he didn't. He was too wrapped up in thought to care now; he was worried about Georgia. He felt Belarus' small hand on his shoulder. "Big brother… I am sorry if I scared you earlier… I realized today when I was outside how scary I can be…" This drew Russia's attention, since she was normally very invasive. "You… are sorry?" She nodded and a saddened look came to her eyes. "I always thought that someone had bullied you, or that you were sad, and you did not want me worried, so you did not let me in. I suppose it was just because I was scary." She got down onto her knees and put her hands on his arm. "I did not mean to be scary, big brother. I just wanted for us to be married soon and us to be happy." He could not help but smile a little. Her hand went to his, and he was a little nervous now. _If she has come to apologize, that does not mean she has stopped wanting to marry me…_ She squeezed his hand a little, and she looked into his violet eyes pleadingly. "I am sorry, big brother. Will you forgive me?" Russia put his hand on hers, taking a deep breath, and nodded. "Da, I will forgive you, Natalya." She smiled broadly and hugged him tightly, then released him, a worried look on her face. "You did not think that was creepy, did you big brother?" He shook his head, both nervous and scared. She exhaled happily. "Even if you are not ready to marry me right now, will you be my friend, big brother?" Russia nodded shyly. "I have always been your friend, Natalya." She hugged him again, and this time, he hugged her softly back, but quickly let go, so that she wouldn't get too many ideas. She released him and sat on the floor next to him, leaning her head on his hip and yawning. "Just as long… as we're very good friends…" With this she fell asleep and Russia was left virtually alone to his thoughts. _Did Georgia point out to her that I did not wish to marry her? Did she point out that she scared me? Or did Belarus figure this out on her own? And if she did, how did she? _His thoughts flurried between Belarus and Georgia, and he soon fell asleep as well, into dreams of the past, when Georgia still lived with him.

It was a nice, sunny day. The bright yellow orb reflected off of the snow, and the small young girl ran quickly ahead of him. He tried to keep up, but his energy was not near as much as hers. Her scarf flapped as she ran, and he could only assume his did as well. She was carrying a small basket, filled with sandwiches and whatever else she had made for them. "Big brother, run faster!" She called out to him, turning her head. He panted his reply, "You are very fast, Tamar… I cannot run as fast as you, da?" She turned around and held the basket with two hands, holding it in front of her and tipping her head to one side. "Here is a good place, Ivan. We should eat here." He nodded tiredly, and she sat down in the snow, spreading her legs out next to the basket. He sat down on the other side of the basket, grinning at her. "All this running has made me very hungry, da?" She smiled back, and reached into the basket, taking out a crudely wrapped sandwich. "It is your favorite, big brother. I made it just for you." She handed him the sandwich, and he grinned broadly as he opened it. Inside of the plastic wrap was a badly cut mayonnaise, ham and cheese sandwich. She looked at him proudly. "I even kissed it for you." She beamed, and her eyes had the innocence of youth still fluttering in them. "Why thank you, Tamar. I am very grateful, da?" She pulled out her own sandwich and handed it to him. "Will you kiss mine?" She asked, almost a little worried that he wouldn't. He took it and acted very solemn about unwrapping it, and very seriously kissed the top of it. "There. Now it is perfect for eating, da?" He handed it back to her, and she took it with a smile, finished unwrapping it, and munched a huge bite of it. "It tastes better after you have kissed it, big brother." Russia blushed a little at the pure innocence radiating from across the basket, and took a bite out of his sandwich. He still hadn't told her that any sandwich she made for him was his favorite, so she still handed it to him thinking she had gone out of her way just for him. _Let her think that. She deserves more recognition than she gets anyway._ She had quickly finished her sandwich, and she scooped up another. She always made herself four or five to Russia's two or three, because he ate so much more slowly. By the time she had finished all of hers, he had only finished two. She stood up and ran over to the largest patch of snow. "I am going to make a snowman, Ivan! He is going to look just like you!" She began making a ball, and rolling it so it accumulated more snow. It eventually got as large as she was, but, being the strong young girl Georgia was, she continued pushing it. It got to about a foot taller than her, and she made a slightly smaller one. The only difficult was not the lifting of the snow, it was the height of the original ball. She looked at Russia for help. He had finished his sandwich and was smiling at her, and so he stood up and helped her place the snowball on top of the base. She made another, smaller head for the snowman, and handed it to him with both hands. He placed the head on top, and she took off her scarf and handed it to him to put on it. He wrapped it around the snowman's neck carefully, and she ran around the field, digging in the snow for purple rocks. He sat down again with the basket, wondering what else was in there, and he began to dig through it. Aside from the wraps of the sandwiches, there were a couple of bottles of something to drink, probably fruit juice, a small bag of candy, and some food labeled 'yuck'. He pulled out the 'yuck' food, and noticed that it was the gift that England had sent him, with one Georgia-mouth-sized bite out of it. He chuckled, and asked her to come over in a call. "These are a little bit purple, da?" He asked, holding up the yucks. She smiled, looked them over, and pulled him up, asking him to put the charcoal and purple blocks of what could almost sort of kind of be called food on the snowman's face. He did, and, although they were a little lopsided, she didn't mind. She ran around the field, now trying to find some white teeth. She eventually made little blocks out of the snow, and handed them one by one to Russia, who made a little smile. When they were done, she ran around looking for a large nose. She settled with a fairly large rock, which made its way to Russia's hand to be placed on his snow image. He placed it on carefully, and stepped back. It didn't really look like him, but of course, she said, "It looks just like you, big brother!" She hugged his leg happily. Then, she walked back to the basket and brought out the juice. "That was hard work. Come get something to drink, Ivan." He walked over and sat down next to her, accepting the juice like a prize. As they drank, she blew bubbles into it, and they both giggled. When finished, they placed all of the remnants into the bag, which Tamar picked up, to be picked up by Ivan, and placed on his shoulders. She giggled madly when he did this, and he carried her home.

He was jolted awake by a little bit of shaking on his arm. Belarus had awakened and was trying to get him to do the same. He did, though involuntarily, and had to reorient himself. He almost ran when he saw Belarus, then remembered the events before they had drifted asleep. She had stood up and was looking contentedly tired. "Were you dreaming of me, big brother? I was dreaming of you." He flushed a little, and shook his head. "Nyet… not exactly, da?" She frowned, but her hands remained on his arm. "Next time, try to dream of me." He sighed, knowing it would be no use to tell her that he had no control over his dreams. He instead smiled at her, and ran a finger through her hair. Although she was constantly trying to marry him, she was quite beautiful… he pushed the thought away, denying that he had any special feelings for her. She was his sister after all; it was natural to think she was beautiful. She looked into his eyes for a moment, and then he looked away, his finger retracting. "You should go somewhere, and maybe come back later." She delighted at the invitation to come back later, and let go of his arm. "Just promise you will not marry anyone else while I am gone." He nodded with an unnoticeable roll of his eyes. She left, contented.

Latvia looked nervously between Estonia and Lithuania, who all sat on boxes in the large warehouse. This warehouse stored only one object; the explosives for a rocket. They figured that if someone had stolen the rocket power cell, they likely would go for the explosives too. They had had all of their meals here since the day that Russia spelled out their failure. They were intent on not failing this time. They would personally guard it, and even though they were not very strong for countries, they were still stronger than ordinary people. Therefore, a break in would not have been too difficult. But, after multiple days of little sleep, they were paranoid and jumpy. The same night that Belarus had apologized to Russia, the small thief returned, and, sure enough, went for the explosives. They heard the door snap open with chain cutters, and spun towards it. Estonia pointed a pistol, as did Lithuania, and Latvia pointed a sharpened stick. Sadly, the guards who had been around were unwilling to give him a gun. The Baltics, upon seeing a six year old girl, looked confusedly between each other. Before they knew it, she had dived between Lithuania's legs, hitting him with the cutters in a place that he was unlikely to forget any time soon. He slowly reached for his private parts, and his knees buckled together. His shoulders were still in a little bit of pain, though not as much, and she noticed this. As he sank to the floor, she smashed the cutters into both of his shoulders, and he yowled as he fell to his face, still clutching his manhood, his shoulders likely broken again. She turned to Estonia, who tried to pull the trigger, having forgotten to remove the safety. She waited for him to realize this before taking Lithuania's gun and pointing it at him. He dove behind the nearest box, and she shook her head. She then turned her attention to Latvia, who stood quivering. She stepped toward him and discarded the gun. He ran at her clumsily and swung the stick. She ducked it and raised an eyebrow at him. He swung it again, same result. She kicked him in the knee, sending him hopping around gripping it. She came up behind him with the cutters, and hit him square between the shoulder blades. He collapsed, writhing in pain, and crawled away. _Ivan must REALLY not care about this warehouse… is this the right place?_ She turned to the mid-sized box in the middle, and opened the lid. Sure enough, inside were the rocket explosives. She lifted it with uncanny strength, and walked out of the warehouse, since there was a supreme lack of guards. She tossed it to a Georgian officer in the back of a jeep, who shook his head at her. "Tamar, I'll never begin to explain how the hell you do that." She chuckled at him and as she hopped in to the passenger's seat, she looked back at him. "No, Corporal, you will not."

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Raise your hand if you want to just scoop Lithuania out of the story! Poor guy... it's not over for him either. I have officially decided that future chapters will contain a small amount of BelaRussia. Or not so small. We'll see. But anywho, again, please review, because I love reviews. Reviews make me cry with happiness. So please do them. And I told you the plot would thicken! And it still will... don't worry. So long for now, hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Respite to Thought Russia

Respite to Thought: Russia

_You did not have to leave me, da?_

_Do you still love me like your big brother?_

_Because you do not act that way, da?_

_You make me sad sometimes._

_I miss you, Tamar._

_You are still my little sister, da?_

_The one who kissed my sandwiches, who made me snowmen, who wore a coat just like me, and a scarf just like me._

_I miss your orange eyes, da?_

_They are very pretty eyes._

_Like sunflowers; the inside of them is even brown, da?_

_Do you miss me like I miss you?_

_Or do you only shoot missiles at me because you hate me?_

_Please do not hate me, Tamar._

_We should be friends, da?_

_You used to love me like your big brother._

_Is that why you shoot missiles at me?_

_To get my attention?_

_Because you have my attention, Tamar._

_You have always had my attention, da?_

_I always watch you, whether you like it or you do not._

_I make sure you do not get into trouble, da?_

_But you get into trouble a lot._

_I make sure it is only with me, though, da?_

_I have kept you safe, little child, and you move away and shoot missiles at me._

_But that is okay, da?_

_Because no matter what you do, no matter what you steal, no matter which family member you kick, and no matter which plan for your own protection you ruin…_

_You are still my little Tamar, lost and alone in the streets of Stalingrad._

_And I love you, da?_

_And I just wonder._

_Do you still love me?_

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Yes, I realize there is a lack of story in this. Yes, this was intentional. I think I will throw these in every once and a while, simply because I can, and they are amazing to write. Enjoy, and review!


	5. Chapter 4

I am very appologetic about the delay... tests and random things such as those came up, and my dear story got no love. As always, please review, and requests will be filled. Even in this story if you'd like.

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Chapter 4

Russia paced back and forth in his room, the Baltics having just recently stuck their head in, shaking, to tell him the news. _She has stolen the explosives, da? Why does she want to shoot me? _At this point, there was a faint knock at the door of his office. He first assumed it was the Baltics, back for another stroke of news. Then he heard his knife-wielding sister's voice, "Big brother, you have not married anyone while I was away, have you?" He sighed, remembering his invitation for her to come back. It was surprising; she had waited an entire twelve hours. "Of course not, Natalya. Come in, da?" She opened the door slowly, and stuck her head in first. Upon seeing him, she smiled broadly. "Hello, big brother." He waved calmly, resisting the instinct to dash into the closet and bar it with a hangar. Instead, he remained standing as she walked over to him, fixing the rumples in her dress a little. She smiled at him when she reached him, and he stood awkwardly for a little while, staring at her. He examined the way her face curved, and was temporarily transfixed, especially when his eyes met hers. She smiled at him, watching his violet eyes. He saw the smile, and couldn't help but smile himself. After a while, even Belarus found herself a little bored and awkward just standing there in front of him. He noticed this while searching her face, and swallowed, then coughed into his hand. "Well, da. Would you like something to drink, little sister?" She looked around his office, and realized that they would be going into a more public part of the house. She nodded, but was a little disappointed she wouldn't have him alone. He took her hand gently, and led her down the hallway to the kitchen. _I am leading her by the hand… she knows her way through my house, da? Why am I leading her?_ The thought raced through his head as they reached the kitchen, and Belarus squeezed his hand, as if in the answer of, 'because you love me, big brother.' His thoughts raced again. _Of course I love her. She is my sister, da? I do not love her like a lover, though. Because she is my sister, da?_ He looked around the nearly barren kitchen, realizing he didn't have much to give her in the way of liquids. He didn't want to give her vodka… the last thing he needed was for them both to be drunk in his house with a bedroom just a bit down the hall. He looked around for something, and managed find all of a large container of milk. He pulled the large container from the refrigerator, and took out two glasses to pour it into. He poured the first, and began to slide it to her. Her hand ended up on his as she reached for the glass, and Russia looked at her nervously. She quickly let go and he pulled his hand away, and she took the glass, looking down at it. He poured himself a glass, and put the milk back in the refrigerator. He needed to remember to get more to drink… the house down in this area of the country was nearly completely devoid of much food. He turned around and sat down at the near table. Belarus sat down across from him, a little red, but otherwise, completely happy. They began a conversation, until one point, when Belarus brought something up. It had been connected to their topic at some point, but it only reminded Russia of an event back in the Russian country-side, during a tank raid on a Nazi airfield.

"Ivan!" Corporal Aleksandr Petrov shouted from his position, sticking his head out of the top of the tank, viewing the world with binoculars. "German fighters incoming!" He dropped back down, closing the top-hatch above him. Ivan turned to Tamar, who sat calmly at a machine gun mounted out of the side of the tank. He gave her a questioning look, and she nodded, pulling the safety cap off of the trigger. Ivan sat down at the main gun's controls, his eyes watching through the scope viewer. He saw two tanks ahead of him; one belonging to Major Gerasim Romanov, the other to Captain Mikhail Fedorov. Suddenly, a large amount of black dots filled the sky as the German fighter planes raced towards them. He saw the two tanks in front of him let out machine gun fire, and one of the planes crashed down in a blast of flames. He heard Georgia fire out her own bullets, and another plane crashed down to the snowy rocks. Ivan took aim at a fighter flying in just the right direction, and fired off a shell, which collided instantly with the plane, causing it to explode and spiral to its fateful end. He heard his spotter's voice ringing in his ear, "Ivan, there are too many! We can't possibly shoot them all down!" Ivan came to this grim realization at about the same time. The smell of gun smoke filled his nostrils as Aleksandr retook his position, firing with the second machine gun, and knocking another plane from the sky. Ivan picked up and spoke into the large radio beside him. "Lieutenant Vaseliev, are you ready to launch your artillery? We are taking heat over here, da?" A voice crackled through the radio. "I am ready as soon as you give me the word. We just set up the launchers." Ivan grinned, and called to the others through the radio. "Major, Captain, huddle down; the artillery will be coming soon, da?" He got replies saying that the others would be ready, and soon the whistle of heavy artillery echoed above them, causing an explosion in the airfield before them. The planes above them scattered, flying back to landing strips where their pilots could exit and prepare for battle. Major Romanov's tank crashed through the fenced gate of the airfield, and machine gun fire clinked on the side of the large tank from the two sentry towers. Ivan paused to take aim at one, blasting the wood and iron to pieces, and Aleksandr shot the guards out of the other. His and the Captain's tanks rumbled into their objective site, and the three tanks split up down three separate paths, which would all likely meet at the end. They moved through the paths, proving their theory right, all meeting at the central hub of warehouses. The Major opened his top hatch, and ran to the nearest warehouse, opening the door. One of his gunners explained on the radio, "They shot through the gun hole; the bullet came in here and smashed a thing or two. Don't worry; we can have it fixed in no time." The Captain and Ivan steered their tanks into the warehouse behind the Major, and once safely inside, they opened the top hatches once again. They were met with a clang of metal as a few Nazi soldiers up on the second floor fired down at them. Tamar popped up beside Ivan first with her pistol, and the two of them shot many of the Germans. Corporal Petrov manned the machine gun still, taking out mass amounts of soldiers. Ivan leapt out of the tank, his pistol rattling off. Aleksandr came out behind him, and Tamar, as was the usual practice, remained in the tank. The warehouse doors were thrown open, and more Nazis shot at the Russian attackers. The Major and the Captain hopped out of their tanks as well, taking stand beside Aleksandr and Ivan, and they fired until it seemed their bullets were constantly flying across the warehouse. Ivan ducked down with the radio behind the tank. "Lieutenant, we need another strike, da?" The voice sputtered its reply, "Where and how hard?" He handed it to Aleksandr, who gave the exact coordinates, and about how much explosive force they would need to clear the outer area of Nazis. Meanwhile, the engineer was working desperately on the Major's tank. On request, the artillery strike came, sending a large blast outside the warehouse. The Russian men ducked behind the tank, shielding themselves from the explosion. There was an eerie silence afterwards, until the clanking of boots on metal from the floor above echoed. Ivan silently motioned for the stairs, hoping to stop the person before they got to the window on the upper level and could shoot at the tanks, the engineer, and Tamar. They ran as quietly as they could up the stairs, making their way to the window room. When they got there, it was too late; a Nazi was kneeling by the window with a Raketenpanzerbüchse loaded and aimed at Ivan's tank. By extension, the anti-tank gun was aimed straight at Tamar's tank. Aleksandr shouted at the top of his lungs, "Panzerschreck! Everyone down!" Sadly, it was too late; Tamar looked up to see a shell coming straight at her. She dove down into the recesses of the tank, closing the top hatch, but it was no use; the tank erupted in flames, and a deafening roar blasted through the warehouse. Ivan fired three shots with his pistol into the shooter's head, and ran back down the stairs, dashing to the tank. He felt his spotter's arms go around his waist with surprising strength, pulling him back from the tank. "You can't just go running into a fire, Ivan! If she's alive, she won't be for long. I'm sorry." But then, beyond all expectations, a small blond head popped above the flames as the very small and frail looking Tamar hopped off the tank, a small orange glow around her, which seemed to cast away the fire. Ivan picked her up in a bear-hug immediately, holding her close. "I thought I had lost you there, da?" She giggled a little, and played with some of his hair like the young child she appeared to be, "You do not have to worry about losing me, big brother. I am just as strong as you!" They both laughed happily, and he set her down. They stepped out the door of the warehouse to see the Nazi planes and all the foot-soldiers that were left alive in full retreat. Aleksandr leapt up, and shouted at them as they disappeared, "Take that you Nazi sons of bitches!" The Major laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "Corporal, I have one thing to say: never, ever write a speech for someone important." They all laughed as the Lieutenant's men joined them, and Aleksandr pulled a bottle of vodka from his coat, causing all the more laughter. "It is certainly cause to celebrate, am I wrong? We're one step closer to breaking the backs of the Nazis for good."

Suddenly he heard Natalya's voice speaking to him, "Big brother? Ivan, are you alright?" He shook his head back to reality, and realized he was sitting in his kitchen, having just been in the middle of a conversation with his little sister, but not the one from the memory. He looked at her for a moment, and nodded, "Da… I am alright." She looked skeptical, and her hand went to his, this time more purposefully. "Are you sure you are alright, big brother?" Russia blushed a little, but his hand didn't recoil. "Da… I am alright Natalya…" She frowned, and her other hand covered her first, both on his one. "What were you thinking about?" He sighed, knowing he couldn't tell her exactly what he was thinking about. Instead, he gave a vague answer, "I was thinking about a time when I almost lost someone I loved, da?" Belarus looked a little confused for a moment, and almost grilled him about who it was he loved and why it wasn't her, but she held herself back, knowing that it would only drive him away again. He saw the restraint in her, and he smiled a little, and she was hopeful. _Perhaps there is love for me in him yet,_ she thought, the possibility unfolding before her. He watched as her eyes glittered with their hope, and couldn't help but think about how pretty they were. He was staring at her eyes as she was staring at him for a fairly long amount of time. The only real reason they were interrupted was because of a knock on the wall as Latvia stepped in, initially addressing Russia. "Mr. Russia, we found her…" At this point, he saw Belarus and stumbled back, pushing Georgia into the room. Georgia and Belarus had a brief battle of wills with glaring, and it would have gone on longer if Russia had not intervened. "Tamar… I thought you were not going to shoot at me."

"I am not."

"Then why have you stolen more explosives?"

"I needed them for something."

"What something?"

"I cannot tell you."

"Because you are going to shoot me."

Belarus looked furious. "You cannot shoot big brother! He must be alive so we can be married and—" she stopped midsentence, looking between Georgia and Russia. Russia's hand, which had not moved from hers even since Latvia and Georgia arrived, was now being wrung with the other. She looked at her empty glass of milk, abashed, knowing that she just ruined her whole conversation, and all that work she had done to try to be normal near big brother, it all amounted to nothing now that she had said that stupid thing. She was back to where she started. She wanted to cry. But she could cry later, when no one was watching. Now, she had to be strong. Especially in front of that little girl who had spun her world around. _Damn that girl. This is the result of her appearance; more humiliation. She may as well just kill me now._ She looked around again, still seeing the unforgiving and cold eyes of the small girl, and the fearful and hesitant eyes of her brother. She stood up, and walked towards the door, knowing she might as well just leave now. Latvia scrambled out of the way, and she found the other Baltics as she passed them by, too flustered to even respond in the least to Lithuania's advances, because she knew that she was about to cry. _Nyet, nyet, let me at least be alone!_ She threw the door open, and her steps increased in pace, her hand flinging across her face as the first tear began to form. _Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, not now, not now!_ Then she realized that hers were not the only feet tearing through the snow, and she turned around. It was that girl, Tamar. Had she come to taunt her? To claim her victory that she had snatched Russia's attention, or simply to point out that she had defeated her again? But none of these happened. As cold as Belarus tried to look, as angry and unwelcoming, the small girl smiled at her. Just smiled. Didn't say anything for a long period of time, she just smiled at her comfortingly. When she did speak, it was short, "It is alright." Belarus wanted to scream at her 'How can you say that it is alright? At least I could get a major emotion from big brother before you came in! At least I could make him afraid! Now he simply pretends not to be afraid! He does not make any real emotion to me any longer! And that is alright?' She just stood breathing heavily, glaring at the smiling girl. "It is alright. So what if he is afraid of you today? You can always come back tomorrow. Then you can be normal again, and make him love you, if that is what you want." Belarus couldn't help but stop her glare, this girl was so innocent and sweet, and said all her words with perfect sincerity. Tamar continued her smile. Belarus could feel another tear coming to her eye. _Oh, nyet! Not in front of her! _She stopped the tear, but unfortunately, the small, sweet girl saw the tear and hugged Belarus gently, for a moment, then pulled away. "Do not cry. It is alright." With this the small girl walked back to the house, her orange scarf fluttering gracefully in the chilly wind. _If she is not Russia's daughter, who is she?_ Natalya wondered these things as she turned to walk away, and began the walk, a tear claiming her cheek. She longed for Ivan's finger there to brush it off, and in her imagination, she heard his footsteps, and his voice, calling out to her. "Natalya! Natalya, come back!" She smiled at the thought that he might someday do such a sweet thing for her, when she realized that the voice was emanating from behind her. And the footsteps were as well. The next thing she knew, a familiar, large hand rested around hers. "Natalya, do not leave because you said something you did not mean to say, da?" She looked up at him, stopping the tear-flow immediately. But she had forgotten the tear on her cheek. He saw it, and raised his finger, brushing the tear away calmly, smiling a little at her. She thrilled at the realization that her longing had just been answered. She sniffled a little though, "You are not hiding, afraid that I might come back?" He frowned, and put his hands on her shoulders. "I am worried about my very strong sister, da? She almost walked through a blizzard all by herself, very sad and frustrated. I cannot let her lose her strength by herself, da? She might get hurt." With that, his arms wrapped gently around her, and she froze for a moment. Her heart skipped multiple beats, and as a reaction, her arms could only move half as quickly as she willed them to. She wrapped them around him, letting out a sigh which, hopefully, was not too loud. They stood there for a while, and the small face of a blond six year old watched through the window, a smile on her face.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Georgia turned from the window, having been watching her older brother and her newly discovered older sister hugging in the fluttering snow. She took a couple steps towards the Baltics. Estonia's eyes widened and he had a pleading look on his face. Behind him, Lithuania instinctively pushed his legs a little closer together, and his hands moved to the defense of his mark of man-dom. Defiantly in the front of them both was Latvia, who stood, an unhappy look on his face. "What? Am I still that scary?" Estonia and Lithuania looked at each other, not sure how to answer. Latvia put his hands on his hips, "I'm not afraid of you. I'm bigger than you." She stepped towards him, deliberately squeezing her right hand into a fist. Lithuania and Estonia cringed a bit, but Latvia stood a little taller. Not that he needed to; she only came up to his nose anyway. He smiled triumphantly, "See? I'm bigger than you." She almost him in where she had Lithuania, a 'who's bigger now?' gesture. Luckily for him, though, she did not. She stood about as close to him as she could and put her hands on her hips. "In physical size. But not your brain." Latvia looked surprised for a moment. "Wha- what do you mean?" he asked. "Why did you call Ivan 'Mr. Russia?" Latvia gulped at the question, realizing his mistake. "Well… uh… you see…" She grinned broadly and turned on one heel, walked back towards the window of the small room. "Because you are an idiot." Latvia was unhappy with this statement. He stepped toward her, stomping his foot a little. "Now you wait just a minute!" She turned around quickly, landing her palm to his nose. He toppled over backwards, making a noise of high-pitched pain. She stuck her tongue out at him as he lay on the floor. "Serves you right! You should not try to bully children half your size and a third your age." She turned around again, seeing the two people in the snow having a conversation now. She sighed; they would catch cold out there in the snow all by themselves. It reminded her of when she first met someone, a while after meeting big brother Ivan. She remembered the meeting as if it were unfolding itself again before her eyes.

Tamar was sitting on Ivan's lap, his arms wrapped around her, her small head on his chest, her hair spilling around on his jacket. Her scarf folded around on his body, and his scarf hung over one of her shoulders. She was sideways, and one shoulder was pushing gently into his ribs. That arm rested softly against his body, and the other used its hand to hold on to her big brother's hand, and her eyes were closed; she was drifting to sleep. Tamar felt him turn his head down to look at her, and she opened one eye to see a smile on his face. The young, small girl yawned, and closed her eye again, beginning to nod off. The warmth of the fire in the fireplace, combined with its soft crackling, gave a drowsy feeling to the whole room. They were sitting in Ivan's armchair, which had much padding and support. She was just about to fall asleep, when a gust of wind came down the chimney, stopping the fire, and sweeping the chilly air into the room. Ivan held her a little bit tighter, and looked up and around at the main room. The door to the outside opened, and a blast of cold air made her shiver uncontrollably. A man floated more than walked in, his coat fluttering and his helmet reflecting the light from the small electric light on the ceiling. He looked at Ivan with a smile. "Congratulations. We've gotten rid of those Nazis now, Ivan." Tamar shivered more, as the sound of his voice made her cold. Ivan tried to pull her a little closer, and she pressed her eyes shut to keep from crying from the cold. The man, from what she had seen of him, was very intimidating. "You are being rather nasty this year, da?" Tamar opened her eyes again, to watch the conversation. The man frowned a little, "Come now Ivan, we both know I had to in order to save you." Ivan nodded, "But you could at least begin to be calm again afterwards, da?" The man's frown grew more pronounced, his moustache bristling icily. "Ivan, you and I both know I never just leave." Then the man noticed Tamar. "Is this the girl you told me about, Ivan? She is much smaller than I anticipated her to be." "She is young, da?" Ivan replied, holding Tamar affectionately. "If it is all because of her that you ask me to leave, I am afraid that I cannot oblige." The man shook his head. Ivan's face grew to one of annoyance, "She is just a child, da?" He pulled her closer, since her shivering was increasing all the more. The man shrugged, saying slightly regretfully, "There are plenty of other children all over where I have influence, Ivan. She will have to get along just like the rest of them," He then began to smile a little, "And anyways, she has you. I'm sure you'll think of something." The man turned around to glide back out the door, but Ivan stopped him. "Winter?" "Hm?" The man turned back to him. "Could you at least let me light the fire for more than ten minutes at a time?" The man chuckled and began to slide out the door, "I'll see what I can do, Ivan." With that, the door shut again, and Tamar could faintly see the man, leaving no prints in the snow, disappear into the blizzard, walking like it wasn't there. She looked up at Ivan. "Big brother, who was that?" Ivan smiled down at her, "That was General Winter, da? He helped us defeat those men who wanted to hurt us." She yawned again, and leaned her head back on his chest. "I did not like them…" "That is why he helped us, da? He does every year at this time." She slipped her eyes shut again, and another yawn escaped her lips. "Okay… so I will see him again?" Ivan chuckled. "Almost definitely." She smiled, beginning to slip to sleep again, despite the cold. She heard Ivan call to one of the men who lived with them, asking him to fix the fire. She then welcomed the sleep, and let it carry her away. When she next awoke, she was in her warm bed, the blankets wrapped around her just the way she always had Ivan do it, so she went back to sleep.

She was redrawn to the real world by a tap on her shoulder by Latvia, who was covering his nose with one hand, trying to block the flow of blood. "You're a nasty child, you know that?" She glared at him. "And you are a big bully." He pushed her towards the window, "Am not." She pushed him back, with surprising strength, "Are too!" He shoved her into the wall, her shoulder colliding with it painfully. "Am not!" She made a squeak as she smashed into the wall. She sniffled and rubbed her shoulder. "Big bully…" She stomped, still rubbing her shoulder, for the door, and trudged unhappily down the hall. Latvia, surprised at his own strength, looked at Lithuania and Estonia. "How…?" Estonia shrugged, "You are a great deal larger than her, Raivis. Twice her size, in fact. For you to push her is very similar to me and Lithuania both pushing you." Latvia looked towards the door. "I wonder if I should go and apologize…" It was Lithuania's turn to shrug, "If you want to live. She'll beat you to a pulp later." Latvia understood and walked quickly out the door, following Tamar down the hall. "Hey, uh… what's your name again?" She turned to him, wiping a small tear from her eye. "Tamar…" She sniffled once. "Hey, Tamar… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you." "You are just a big bully, big bullies do those things, and then they pretend to be sorry." She turned and started walking down the hall again, the stubbornness of her apparent age showing itself. Her words hurt Latvia; he had not meant to cause her pain. He just forgot that she was so much smaller, and was unused to having the ability to do that kind of thing anyway. He ran up beside her. "Look, Tamar, I'm very sorry," He put his hand on her shoulder, "I didn't mean to hurt you." She just kept walking, not accepting, but not rejecting either that his hand was on her shoulder or his apology. She sniffled a few times, and rubbed her right shoulder, the opposite side from where Latvia walked beside her. He thought a little, and decided to ask a question. "Do you want some ice for that?" She looked at him, wiping her nose on her coat sleeve. She nodded, and he led her by the hand kindly to where the ice was. He opened the freezer, taking a towel and wrapping it around some of the ice, then lifted it and placed it softly on her right shoulder. She shuddered, and he backed off a little. "Are you okay?" She nodded, and he put it back, and she made a sharp intake of breath. He had her hold it there, while he got a piece of medical tape to wrap it on with. He did, with a good amount of gentleness. He led her, again by the hand, down the hallway back to the room, and told her things that made her giggle. Estonia and Lithuania looked at each other, smirking a little bit. From then, they waited for Russia and Belarus to return.

They did return, and when Russia opened the door, a small flurry of snow followed him and Belarus into the house. Georgia watched as Russia's eyes were a little concerned that she was being so friendly with his Baltic subjugates. Then she knew the thoughts were forming in his head; he was going to confront her about the 'rocket', again. "Why do you want to shoot me, Tamar?" He asked calmly, though his face showed pain when he asked it. Latvia stepped away from the small girl, and his two good friends left with him as well. They all walked out the door, Lithuania waving dreamily at Belarus, who glared at him. She stood in the hallway looking indifferent. Russia stepped into the chair-less room. She couldn't draw the attention to a chair now, so she responded slowly, "I do not want to shoot you, Ivan."

"Please do not lie to me, Tamar. I just want to know why, da?"

"But I do not want to shoot you!"

"Then why are you going to shoot me?"

She stopped, not having a response to the simplest of questions that she should have meticulously planned over long ago. Here she was, looking like a fool before her big brother, and she just wanted to get away. She couldn't very well run; there were five of them and one of her, regardless of size. She couldn't fight for the same reason. She was trapped, not knowing the answer to the whole problem she had caused. "I… well…" Then, she let something slip. Something dramatic, that would rock her world forever. "Well… big brother… I do not…" Belarus' eyes shoot up from the patch of floor they had been looking at. "Did you just call him 'big brother'?" Georgia gulped, and panicked, "I, uh, no, of course not! I called him… I called him…" Ivan looked crestfallen. She knew that he had been trying to hide her from the world, and now, it was exposed. If Belarus said anything to anyone, she would be open to everyone. Latvia's head popped in the door, along with Estonia's and Lithuania's. "Mr. Russia, she is your sister?" Russia turned to Latvia, and nodded, looking defeated. "Da… she is my little sister Georgia." Latvia pointed at her, "No wonder she was so strong!" Lithuania nodded in agreement, "That explains a lot…" Estonia concurred, "Yes; that makes so much sense!" Georgia turned red in the face, turning around and putting her face in her hands. "I am sorry, big brother…" But for once, the first time in her life, Russia did not tell her it was okay. He didn't tell her he forgave her. He turned out of the room, and walked down the hall to his office, slamming the door so even Belarus couldn't open it.

* * *

I do hope you enjoyed this section. I realize that my writing may be taking a downturn in... well, everything. I have no excuse. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you do like it, wait for another section to come out, da? As usual, please review; your words make me happy! Happy happy happy!


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

For a long time, Russia sat at his desk, his head flat down on the surface of it. There were three empty bottles of vodka lying around on the desk. His arms were around his face, and there was a noise that was the mixture of sobbing and groaning emanating from that entwinement of arms. Belarus sat outside the door, listening, having long given up on the partly broken doorknob. She sat, her arms around her knees, her ear against the door. _Big brother, please let me in there so that I may help comfort you. Please, just let me make you feel better. _She almost cried herself, but she refrained, still listening to Russia's drunken tears. Georgia was in a similar state as Russia, without the alcohol, her head on the table, though her tears were both for a different reason. Her tears were not because she had failed someone in danger. Her tears were because she had not been forgiven. She had not been accepted by the one person that mattered to her. She cried so much that a small pool of tears had accumulated on the table immediately in front of her face. The Baltics looked at each other, afraid of walking over to her. Latvia eventually decided to walk over, much to the startling of Estonia, who caught his arm. "What are you doing, Raivis?" Latvia looked at him oddly, "What do you mean? She looks like she needs help, doesn't she?" Estonia let go of Latvia's arm, and Latvia stepped towards Georgia. "Tamar, what's wrong?" One of his hands went to her left shoulder, the other on her hand which was closest. She continued crying, though, and made no response. "Come on, Tamar. You can tell me." Georgia looked up at him teary-eyed and sniffled once more. "Big brother… big brother does not love me… I really am not his sister anymore… he does not love me… he hates me now… I have failed him… he does not love me anymore… I am not his sister… he does not want me… he really does not want me… I thought that his telling me that he was not my brother anymore was not true… but it was… he meant it… he did not tell me it was okay…" She would have continued her depression, if it were not for Latvia standing her up and hugging her. "If he will not be your brother, then I will be your best friend." Georgia sniffled into his shoulder. "So stop crying. It's going to be okay." She pulled her head away from his shoulder for a moment. "Big bully. Telling me to do things." She said this with a smile though, and rested her chin on his shoulder. He held her loosely and awkwardly, like a young boy who is meeting his little sister for the first time. "Don't worry, Tamar, it'll be okay." She put her small arms around him, and stood there. Eventually, Latvia released her. "Are you a bit better now?" She nodded, still sniffling. "He will always be your brother, and you will always be his sister. It doesn't matter if you two fight. He still loves you, I know it." She nodded again, wiping a tear away. She sat down at the table, and turned to the window, a memory that had taken place in that same room unfolding before her.

She was sitting across the table from Ivan, a turkey that Russia had cooked sitting between them. There was a glass bottle filled with grape juice. Not that cheap stuff, but the quality, tasty, well-made grape juice. Aside from this and a plate for each of them, the table was empty. Russia didn't have much money, but he always did his best for his family on Christmas. Ukraine and Belarus had been over the last two days, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The three had exchanged gifts and had a large dinner, mostly made by Ukraine. But now it was Georgia's turn for a Christmas dinner. She dangled her feet off of her chair, and she kicked slowly. She smiled at Russia as he cut the turkey open and into pieces. "What piece would you like, Tamar?" He asked with a smile. "I would like that one, big brother." She pointed to a large piece hungrily, and he placed it graciously on her plate. He then took his own, smaller piece, and began to chew. After a while, they had finished their food and drink, and Georgia reached into her coat with a smile. "I brought something for you, Ivan." Russia raised an eyebrow curiously, "What is it?" She pulled out a poorly wrapped box, and set it on the table. "Why, thank you, Tamar!" Russia looked happily at the small box, and lifted it, looking at her. "May I open it now?" She nodded, a hopeful look coming to her eyes. He began to open the box, and eventually got it open to the point where he could pull out the desired article. He found a folded piece of paper, and when he unfolded it, it revealed itself to be a crudely drawn picture, containing a tall man with a scarf and light silvery blond hair and violet eyes, and a small girl beside him, holding his hand, who had the same clothing as the tall man, but the scarf was orange, and her eyes were orange. There was a message at the bottom, written in Russian: 'Our family'. Russia almost created some tears, and he smiled broadly at the colored portrait. "Merry Christmas, big brother!" He chuckled, "Thank you very much, Tamar. I will keep it forever, da?" He stood up and walked over to the fireplace, and lifted a meticulously wrapped orange box off of the mantelpiece. He then walked over to her, and placed the box on the table in front of her. The box was fairly large, about two feet cubed in dimensions, and just asking to be opened. "What is it, big brother?" "Open it and find out, da?" He replied with a smile. She reached for the large box, carefully removing the orange paper. "It is a very big box, big brother…" Ivan chuckled, "Da, Tamar. It is." She opened the top of the box under the paper, and squealed happily. "Big brother, there are so many of them!" She pulled out a very nice fur coat, and many other various fur things of various colors. She immediately took off her army coat and put on one of the fur ones, fitting almost exactly perfectly into the coat. She really looked quite pretty in the coat, though she only appeared six, and it was a little large. "Merry Christmas, Tamar!" He smiled broadly and she ran around the table to him, her arms extended. He extended his arms as well, and she jumped into them, hugging him tightly. "It is big so that you will not have to worry about outgrowing it for a while, da?" She smiled up at him, still in the middle of the hug. "You are the best big brother ever, Ivan…" Ivan turned a little red at this, and held her close. "Thank you, Tamar… but maybe I spoil you too much…" Her eyes widened, and she gasped a little, "You do not spoil me, big brother. You just get me lots of things that I appreciate very much." He chuckled. "That is just about what spoiling is, da?" She looked back at her new fur clothing. "You will not take away your present if I say that you are probably spoiling me, will you?" She asked, a little worriedly. He smiled at her, "Of course I will not take them away, Tamar. I will not take away something I have given you, da?" She nodded and stroked part of the soft, fuzzy fur. "You probably do spoil me a little, big brother…" He laughed and kneeled down in front of her so they were roughly the same height. "That is what I am here for, da?" He hugged her again, and she hugged him back. "I am here to spoil you because you are worth spoiling, da?" She giggled, and he lifted her up off the ground, and she hung in his arms, giggling madly. "Big brother, is this what Christmas is always like with you?" He nodded, and walked over to the fire, sitting in the large comfy chair. "It will always be like this when you are around, da?" She smiled at him and got herself comfortable in his lap, leaning her head against his shoulder and letting her eyelids collapse, and soon, she was sleeping peacefully, in a fur coat, on her big brother's lap, with his arms around her.

She was brought back to the real world by a shout in the hallway. She took a step out, and there she saw a quite terrifying thing. Russia was standing, pipe in hand, his face twisted into one of serious frustration. "You tell them that you are my sister, and you are going to shoot me?" Georgia turned pale, and took a step back, as Russia stepped forward, raising the pipe a bit. "Big brother… I… I… I did not mean to…" "Do not call me big brother, or even Ivan! Leave! Go ahead and go home and get ready to shoot me! And do not put too much effort into it; you would not want to waste it on me!" She backed towards the door as he continued stepping forward. His frustrated face looked truly angry now, and she turned to the door, sobbing madly, and ran for it. "I am sorry, Russia… I did not want it to happen this way… I am so very sorry…" She threw the door open and ran out, running back to the border, across it, and to her house, where she went straight to her room, and shoved her head into her pillow, crying like a waterfall. In that same instant, the Baltics had thrown themselves into a side room, and blocked the door with various objects. Even Belarus had scooted away, wide-eyed and fearful. _If that anger had been directed at me, I would have died inside…_ Belarus blinked once or twice before the thought let itself continue. _How must it be for a small girl who looks up to her big brother, no, adores him, I can see it in her eyes, who gets thrown away by him?_ She shook her head once or twice, trying to imagine not only being attached to Ivan, but being accepted and nurtured, only to be tossed away at one mistake. She felt a lot of sympathy for the girl, but then again, she was going to shoot Ivan, and that could not be allowed. But she obviously adored him… this was a mystery that may be beyond common solving. She would need help, but who could help her? She could ask Ukraine. But even with the both of them, they'd need more resources. She could then ask America… she knew him well enough. She didn't like him, but she knew him. But she didn't know who to ask, since she would prefer Ivan over all of them. But he couldn't help her in a problem he was involved in. Which also cut out the three cowards in the closet. So with a choice of two people, she decided on both. The more the merrier was sadly untrue, especially where America was involved, but she would have to cope. First, though, she needed to get to Ukraine. Once Russia had stormed his way back into his office, she stood up and brushed herself off, stepping quietly to the door, opening it, and making her way through the snow to the airport. It was time for an early visit to Kiev.

Latvia was the first to exit the closet, and looked around for traces of the past endeavor. Seeing not Russia, nor Belarus, nor Georgia, he felt safe to step into the hallway. He did, and looked up and down it. Still, no one had materialized to pound his bones to dust. So he dared to take a step towards the door. Again there was no magical appearance of a threat, so he continued. He continued in this manner until he reached the door. He had concluded, after hearing the sound of a door slam and high pitched sobs, that Georgia had run out after the yelling from Russia. He couldn't blame her; she had just been in a state where she believed he hated her, and he had just confirmed this for her. Since none of the other people in that house, he viewed, would be willing to go and stop Georgia from shooting a rocket at Russia without blasting her brains out, he felt it was his moral obligation to go and stop her, probably by assuring her that Russia did in fact love her. That, and he had felt that she needed him. In that brief instant when she had accepted his help with her injured shoulder, and the short couple of seconds when he had kept her standing in his arms, he knew that she needed him, or he needed her. He felt like she was in some way emotionally attached to him, as if they were closely related, and had just met again for the first time. So, he decided he would go off to try and find her. But he may need some help in comforting her. He could always call up Sealand. That would accomplish two things. The first being that there were two people who could try to stop and help Georgia. The other would be that that bratty best friend of his could be put in his place. _Won't that be amusing? When dear Peter finds himself confronted with the toughest six year old he will ever, ever meet._ He chuckled at the thought, and found somewhere away from the dashing snow, under some overhanging cover, and pulled out his phone, dialing the ever-familiar number.

Russia paced around the room, his pipe gripped tightly in his firm hands. He was muttering in Russian, trying to decide just what to do next. If Georgia was going to shoot him, he had to act quickly. If she was building a rocket, what was the most important piece that was the easiest to steal? He couldn't steal the power cell; she would be guarding that, and it would be on her person. He couldn't very take the rocket parts; although he was strong enough, it would be fairly conspicuous if he were to cross the border with a large metal sheet dragging behind him, or above him, or in front of him. It would certainly be awkward. He could just steal the oil. That would be perfect! He could take the Baltics with him, and they could all steal Georgia's oil, and maybe Belarus and Ukraine as well! But when it boiled down to it, he didn't want help. He just wanted to do it himself. So he did. He threw the door open and walked heavily down the hall, his pipe now held in one hand with a death-grip. He opened the door to the outside, and walked to his car. He tossed his pipe into the passenger's seat, and sat in the driver's side, and made his way down to the Georgian border. The guards let him through, and he smirked. _Now, Tamar, it is my turn to do the stealing, da?_

* * *

I am going to spout these out like a volcano now, since I don't want to be blocked from writing any more again... enjoy, and this is the last chapter with a memory. So things will be far more... quick moving. Please review, and I apologize for the massive delay.


	8. Respite to Thought Georgia

Respite to Thought: Georgia

_Big brother… why do you hate me?_

_I am just getting your attention._

_I think you will be happily surprised when you find out what I am really doing._

_I do not want to have to shoot you._

_Please to not attack me._

_I love you, big brother._

_I know that you do not love me back, but why can you not just pretend to love me back, like you used to?_

_Those were the days that I liked._

_When we were happy together and we had Christmas parties, and made snowmen, and sat at a dying fire to meet General Winter, and fought in World War Two together…_

_Why did you pretend then?_

_I miss you so much, big brother, and I wish to believe that you miss me too._

_But I know that you do not anymore._

_I know that you hate me now._

_I know that you want me to die now._

_So maybe that is what I will do._

_Die._

_Maybe if I die by your house, you will be sorry and bury me._

_But maybe you will not be._

_Maybe I should die, because that would make you happier._

_Because you do not love me._

_Did you ever love me?_

_It seemed like you loved me when you hugged me, and told me I was pretty, and made snowmen with me, and gave me presents…_

_But did you really love me?_

_Or were you being polite to me because I was a helpless girl you saved in Stalingrad?_

_I do not know that._

_But I do know that you hate me now._

_So I will leave, avoid you, never come back, so that you can be happy._

_Even if it makes me sad._

_Because, big brother, what you do not realize, is that every time you hugged me, told me I was pretty, made snowmen with me, gave me presents…_

_You took a part of me and put it inside of you._

_So when I cannot be near you, I cannot be near myself._

_But that is alright, because it is more important to me that you are happy, because you deserve some happiness._

_Even though you always told me that you had a good day, I know you had been bullied._

_You are so big and so strong, but you are still a little bit sensitive._

_You do not tell that to anyone though._

_Maybe that is why you pretended to love me._

_Because I never bullied you._

_That is because I love you, big brother._

_Maybe we can be friends again someday…_

_And be happy like we used to be._

* * *

Yes, I again realize that this is lacking in plot. I just feel like making you wait for things to start heating up. Because a sombrero told me to be mean to my readers. Confused? It's probably better that way... But (guess what I'm going to say next) please review, and all requests will be filled! Especially requests pertaining to this story!


	9. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The flight was a little bit rough, but aside from the usual turbulence, it was still calm enough for Belarus to sleep. So she did, waiting for the plane to land. The landing, in direct contrast to the flight, was fairly rough, and it bounced and almost tossed her out of her seat. She would have to leave a gift for the pilot. A very sharp, small, pointed, painful gift. So she did. The nature of this gift would be dangerous to disclose, lest it should result in bodily injury to any party involved in the reading, writing, or documentation of this paragraph, as just the visibility of the word describing the gift should cause said injury. Belarus got off of the plane slowly, taking her steps carefully. She wasn't that far from Katya's house, she could walk from here. That was assuming that she was currently in Kiev and not out on a farm. On second thought, she probably was out on a farm. So Belarus went off to find some means of transportation. After a fairly long period of wandering around, she decided that it would be a better idea to just walk. It couldn't be that far… could it? Off she wandered, in the direction of the farm that she had visited Ivan in when he was visiting Ukraine. By the time she got to the farm, her feet were sore, but it was, as far as she could tell, worth it. She looked around, to see Ukraine bent over doing something. She walked nearer to her older sister. "Katya!" Ukraine stood up at the sound of her voice, and looked around once, until she located Belarus. Belarus almost immediately regretted calling her name instead of walking all the way over to her, as Ukraine audibly bounced over to her, and a huge hug, and two other huge things, enveloped her. Belarus tried to protest, though her protests were absorbed into large objects which were fairly impossible to speak through. "You came to visit me!" Ukraine sobbed happily, "That is so thoughtful of you, Natalya!" "Ys Ktyush, I cm tu vst yu…" She was released from the hug, and she took a deep breath. "Yes, Katyusha, I came to visit you." Belarus straightened her dress. "I need some help, and I cannot ask big brother about it." Her sister looked confused for a moment. _She has no knowledge of the last few days… this is going to be more difficult than I had thought previously._ Belarus sighed, and put her hands on Ukraine's shoulders. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk by ourselves?" Ukraine stared at her for a moment, and nodded slowly. "This is going to require some explanation, isn't it Natalya?" Belarus nodded. "This is going to require a lot of explanation, Katya." Ukraine nodded again and took her hand, leading her determinedly to a room in the farmhouse, locking the door and closing the windows. "What's wrong, Natalya?" Belarus began the difficult story. She started from the beginning as far as she knew, something about Georgia stealing one of Russia's power cells. Ukraine blinked at her a few times. "Georgia?" Belarus sighed again, realizing just how uninformed her sister was. She couldn't blame her; she hadn't been present at any of the events. "Georgia… well, is our sister." Ukraine blinked once more. "Our… sister?"

"Da. Our sister."

"You mean… biologically? We have another member of our family?"

"Da. She looks about six years old, has two tails in her hair, orange eyes, she wears the same coat style as big brother, has an orange scarf, the same aura as big brother, except orange, and is about this tall." She raised her hand to a certain height, about how tall Georgia was. Ukraine nodded slowly, signaling for Belarus to continue. She did, and went through explaining the day she came up to Russia and met Georgia, and those things that pertained, and then about earlier today, and how Ivan's temper cracked, and Georgia ran out of the house crying. Once she had finished the narrative, Ukraine looked at her for a while, then spoke. "Vanya… got angry? Very angry? What do you think he will do?" Belarus shrugged. "I do not know. But that is not why I came. That is just why I cannot ask big brother for help."

"Then why did you come, Natalya?"

"Why do you think Georgia wants to shoot at big brother?"

"That is a question that only she can answer."

"But we can guess, right, Katya?"

"Yes. I suppose we can."

"But we should talk to more people about it."

"Like who?"

"Maybe America…"

"Excuse me? Natalya, did you just suggest what I think you did?"

"Da. Sometimes, idiots say idiot things that make us think of incredibly simple flaws in our own ideas."

"Perhaps that is true. I can call him."

"Please do."

"Natalya… you do know what you are getting us into, da? We will have to tell him as well. And delving into the mind of a child may be very difficult."

"Da. I understand."

"Good. I'll go get the phone." With this, she opened the door, and Belarus could hear her bouncing endowment echoing down the hallway.

The British-sounding voice echoed through the phone against Latvia's ear, with a strange tone. "Excuse me? You want me to fly over there to what little tiny country I've never heard of's aid?" "Georgia," Latvia answered. "She's Russia's little sister." The voice returned snidely, "I thought Belarus was Russia's little sister." Latvia sighed, "So is Georgia. It's just that nobody knew about Georgia until earlier today. Russia had been hiding her. And somebody needs to stop her before she shoots Russia with a rocket." Sealand seemed to laugh a little, "Serves him right, if he got her that angry." Latvia wanted to hit him, and hit him hard. Instead, he spoke slowly, calmly, and deliberately. "Get your sorry ass over here and help me or I will come over there and drag you by your pinkie toe with a pair of rusty fire pokers having been heated in an oven for an hour and make sure I drag you over every rock, hole, spike, and sharp object between there and the Caspian Sea!" Sealand's voice paused before he responded, shocked that his friend had such malice. "Alright, alright, I'm on my way. Just don't be waiting at the airport with a pair of heated pokers, please." They both laughed, and sure enough, Sealand eventually came. When he got off of the plane, he looked at Latvia. "Thank God for private jets." Latvia chuckled and watched as the pilot and crew exited the jet, doing the various things that needed to be done. Sealand looked at Latvia again. "So, where's this Georgia kid?" Latvia nodded towards the ominous looking huge fence in the distance. "Just over there. She lives on an army base, from what I can gather." Sealand frowned and nodded. The two of the set off at a consistent rate to the fence, until they came to the guards, and the one who had, just a couple short days before, greeted Ivan so warmly, looked at Latvia. "Raivis! What are you doing here at the border? Shouldn't you be with Ivan?" Latvia shook his head. "I have some business down in Georgia. It has to do with those explosives and cell stolen from the warehouses." The guard nodded. "Yeah, a lot of things seem to be happening about those currently. Not sure why it's such a big deal, though. Aside from it being an act of war and all, but, you know, some teenagers these days." The guard quickly corrected himself, realizing Raivis' age. "Only the bad ones! You are certainly not one of the bad ones. After all, you are going down to another country on business." Latvia chuckled and looked up at the guard. "Yes, well, may we just get through the gate now?" The guard apologized and hit a button, the gate opening before them. Latvia continued on with Sealand, until they reached a large building in the military base. Latvia knocked on the door, and was met by a tall man in uniform. "Yes?" The man looked down at Latvia. "Do you know where I may find Tamar?" The man laughed, and pointed down the cement roadway. "The last building. The only one that actually looks like a house… even though all of them are." Latvia nodded and thanked him, turned and walking determinedly down the path. The closer they got to Georgia's house, though, the more nervous he looked. "I'm not sure if this was such a good idea…" Sealand turned to him, a little frustrated. "Do I have to go and find some rusty fire pokers?" Latvia got the message and took a deep breath. "This is just a little weird… that's all." Sealand nodded. "You think this is weird for you? I've never even seen the kid." Latvia chuckled and nodded, and turned to Georgia's house, walking until they finally reached it. Latvia knocked on the door, received by a servant. "Ms. Tsiklauri will not be seeing any visitors today." "But we need to talk to her. It's imperative." The servant looked between Latvia and Sealand, and Sealand nodded in assent. The servant shrugged and closed the door with a, "Wait here moment." He walked through the house until he reached the room of the small girl who lay face up on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "There are two boys here to see you." "Send them away." "They said it was imperative." "What did they look like? Be specific. I hired you because you see everything on a person… like a damn magnifying glass…" He ignored her tired, grumpy mutterings, and began describing the first of the boys. "The one who spoke had short, curly blond hair and blue eyes, and a maroon military uniform with brown epaulettes." He was about to continue to the second, when Tamar stopped him. "That is Raivis… let them in." The servant nodded and went back to the door, and led the two boys to Georgia's room. Georgia immediately jumped up, off her bed, and hugged Latvia. "Raivis… I am so glad to see you. Who is he?" She nodded to Sealand. "That is my friend, Peter," Sealand nodded at her. "He's Sealand." "Where's that? I've never heard of Sealand before." Sealand turned red in the face and balled his fists. "I am a nation, a NATION mind you, off of the coast of Britain. Georgia raised an eyebrow at him, releasing Latvia. "I thought Ireland was off of the coast of Britain… and France… and Norway…" Sealand looked genuinely frustrated. "I will not take this from a child like you! I am a nation, with a government, a functioning government!" Georgia looked at Latvia. "Is this you telling me that you hate me now too?" She looked a little concerned, and when Latvia shook his head, she pointed to Sealand. "Then what is he for?" Latvia shrugged, "I was trying to have him help comfort you, and tell you not to shoot Russia." She turned to Sealand and kicked him in the shin, sending him yowling and hopping in pain. "I am not going to shoot Russia unless he attacks me." Latvia nodded, "That's good to hear. He still loves you, you know." She turned to Latvia and hugged him once more. "Rairai, you're so considerate…" Latvia blushed a deep red at that point, and Sealand, in the middle of his hopping, suffered from a laughing attack, and fell over in pain, laughter, and self-absorption. She looked at the two of them. "I need your help with something, though…"

Russia eventually arrived at the oil field, and he stepped out of the car, grabbing the pipe, just in case. He looked around, and walked over to the nearest oil drum, after knocking out the guards. He lifted it and placed it in the large storage device he had brought for this purpose. He pulled out his phone and called a familiar Major. "Major, I need you to come down here as soon as you can. I've confiscated some oil from Georgia, and I can't take it all." The Major replied in the affirmative, and Russia set to watching the oil to make sure no one came around. He walked deeper into the facility, and looked around, knocking out guards all the way. "Looking for something, are we, Ivan?" Russia turned around to see a familiar boy in a white cloak, with a golden cross embroidered where his breastbone would be under it. "Georgia told me that you were mad at her, Russia." The short boy stepped towards him, still not removing his hood. "Armenia. I should have expected." There were three people before that day that had known about Georgia, aside from herself. They were Russia, Armenia, and Turkey. And, of course, Russia should meet the one who was devotedly attached to her. "Yes, yes you should have. I knew you would be here to steal the oil." Russia sighed. The main difficulty with the boy was that he seemed to know everything before it happened. Armenia lifted up a black Bible, and glared at Russia. "You are not going to hurt that girl." Suddenly, a ball of water erupted from the Bible, crashing into Russia, throwing him against the wall. "You cannot stop me, Matthew." Armenia smirked at him. "Unless I use the whole wrath of heaven on you." Russia almost laughed. "You would never use the whole wrath of heaven on me, da?" Armenia shrugged, and extended one hand, muttering something in Latin, causing Russia to cringe in pain. Russia stood up and ran at the boy, swinging his pipe. It collided with the head of the boy, causing him to stagger sideways against a massive oil drum. He fixed his hood and jumped at Russia, both hands on the Bible, and swung the book at Russia. Upon collision with the large man, a beam of light erupted, and Russia crashed backward into another wall. The room was suddenly filled with two auras; one of holy bright light, and the other of purple, brimming, sadism and cruelty. Russia grinned evilly and jumped at Armenia. He swung the pipe, which was blocked by Armenia's Bible this time around. After this, Armenia swung the Bible, to be blocked by Ivan's pipe. This exchange of blows continued for a while, neither gaining ground on the other, just darting around the room, swinging and blocking. They eventually stood in opposite corners, three massive oil drums around the room. "Neither of will win this way, Ivan, and you know it." "Da… but I can try." The Russian ran from his corner at surprising speed, when Armenia extended his hands to one of the oil drums, and threw it at Russia, without touching it at all. It smashed Russia into the wall, and he kicked it away. Armenia shook his head. "If faith can move mountains, what do you think it can do with three oil drums?" He snapped his fingers, and all three of the massive drums flew at Russia. This time, he was prepared, and he swung the pipe and bashed them away. Armenia chuckled. "Impressive… I should think that you are a bit weaker than usual though. How disappointing." Armenia shielded himself with his cloak, and shouted in Latin, "Ego to order vos ustulo!" At the words, the oil drums exploded, sending fire flying around the room, which Russia hid from under his coat. After shaking the flames off of the coat, Russia stood to his full height and searched the room for the annoying child. The next thing he knew, two white-clad arms were around his throat, and he felt the air being drained from him as Armenia muttered, "Permissum aer evanui." Russia slammed his back against the wall, causing the boy to sputter. He continued in the pounding against the wall, until Armenia fell silent. Russia then flipped him off of his back and onto the floor, and began to bring the pipe down onto his head. Armenia rolled out of the way just in time, and the cement floor cracked under the force of the pipe. "Permissum vestitus exsisto exuro quod viscus exsisto lanx, excorio animus quod laqueus mens. Enslave somes quod interficio voluntas, trucido vir quod pario bestia." Russia's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to his knees, gasping for breath as his body's temperature seemed to skyrocket to a record high. Russia swung the pipe, and knocked Armenia off of his feet, likely saving Russia's life, as the curse was lifted and Russia stood. Armenia stepped into the flames, and seemed to grab some of the fire around him and build himself a shield and sword from the flames. "Constructum mihi a mucro quod a contego of incendia, permissum mihi exsisto indutus in flamma." Armenia stepped out of the flames and swung his firesword at Russia, who blocked it with the pipe, surprisingly enough. He kicked at Armenia, only to find a swift and burning pain in his foot. Armenia laughed and lowered the shield he had used to block the foot. Russia growled at him angrily, and they began an exchange of blows again. Eventually, Russia landed a blow on Armenia's head, and he staggered back. Russia kicked the head he had just hit, and Armenia fell over, crawling away on his back. Russia walked up to him, and knocked him out cold with the bottom of the pipe, and walked to the door, avoiding the small fires that were dying with Armenia's power. "Enjoy your sleep, Matthew, and when you wake up, tell Tamar that it will take more than a boy with a cloak and a Bible to beat me, da?" When Armenia awoke, the place was empty. He stood up slowly, looked down at his battered self, and muttered, "Vigoratus." With that, he wandered off towards Georgia's house.

* * *

I realize that you probably don't speak Latin. Here's a list of all the phrases and words Armenia used. And yes, Armenia is an OC. Pretty cool, da?

Ego to order vos ustulo: I command you to burn

Permissum aer evanui: Let the air disappear

Permissum vestitus exsisto exuro quod viscus exsisto lanx, excorio animus quod laqueus mens. Enslave somes quod interficio voluntas, trucido vir quod pario bestia: Let the clothing burn and the flesh burn, shave the courage and ensare the mind. Enslave the body and murder the senses, kill cruelly the man and bring forth the beast

Constructum mihi a mucro quod a contego of incendia, permissum mihi exsisto indutus in flamma: Build me a sword and shield of fire, let me be armored in flame

Yes, yes, this is a huge shift from the previous pieces of my work. I hope you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it. I appologize for any OOC people... but, as always, if you liked, or if you didn't, please review! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're as anxious as I am for the next chapter!


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"She's your guys's whaaaa?" America's voice crackled through the phone, and Belarus rubbed her face with her hand for the umpteenth time, annoyed beyond belief. "Our sister, America." "Dude… Russia has another sister? No wonder he wanted to hide her. Hell, if I were Russia, I'd have locked the kid in a box." Belarus rolled her eyes, wondering what ever possessed her to ask America for help. She spoke clearly and coldly. "America, it does not matter what you would do with the child. She is out and about regardless. And we need help." America was silent for a long time. "You need… my help?" He sounded shocked. "You're admitting… that I'm…" Belarus anticipated the next statement, "Just because we are asking for help does not mean that we think you are the hero, America." He sounded a little dejected. "Oh… alright then. What do you need help with?"

"We need to figure out why Georgia wants to shoot Russia, while still being obsessed with whether or not he still loves her as his sister."

"Well… I could bring Mattie… he's better at these things than me. We can be over in… maybe… seventeen hours." Belarus was a little disappointed about the length of time they had to wait, but she could just talk with Ukraine in that time. So she did, and they slept as well, and after seventeen and a half hours, they decided to head out to Kiev to wait for the plane. When it arrived, naturally a little late, America and Canada came down the stairs of the private jet. Ukraine smiled at them and ran over, hugging them happily. "You actually came to help!" Canada turned a bright pink, trying to sputter something doubly inaudible for obvious reasons. America, on the other hand, looked very happy, and he spoke into the muffling objects. "Uf crs I cm tu hlp, Ukrn! Bcs Im th hro!" She let go of them and Canada immediately stumbled back, not noticeable to anyone else. America, on the other hand, remained with his face into the large objects which block sound. She tried to pry him off forcibly, but his face remained implanted. She slowly pulled out her pitchfork, and cracked him on the head with it. He stumbled back. "Hey, what was that for?"

"You were going to say something before you became stuck in your previous position?"

"Oh, yes. Of course I came to help, Ukraine! Because I'm the hero!" Canada throughout this whole thing had been steadily looking more and more abashed about America's actions, and this one simply made him sigh quietly. Belarus had been steadily growing angrier and angrier at America's actions, and at this point walked up to him, and grabbed his shoulders. "America. You are not. Always. The hero." With this, she slapped him, and he looked very surprised. Ukraine chuckled a little and watched them, then realized that Canada was standing next to the stairs, looking like he very much thought that America deserved it, and simultaneously ashamed at his brother's actions. Belarus continued yelling at America, saying various things about how annoying he was, and other such insults. _This is going to be an interesting experience… _Ukraine wandered over to Canada and smiled at him. "Hello, Canada." He turned to her, a mixed look of surprise and happiness on his face. "H-hi, Ukraine…" _She noticed me! I've been noticed…_ He tried to make a contented smile, but it was very small and shy-looking. She hugged him for a moment, making him turn bright red again. "Thank you for coming to help us, Canada."

"Y-you're very welcome… a-and you can call me M-Matthew… or M-Matt… or M-Mattie… or…" She interrupted him softly and smiling, "I like Mattie. You can call me Katyusha." He smiled timidly, and nodded, "O-okay, Katyusha… s-so, what was it you n-needed help with…? A-Alfred wouldn't tell me on the f-flight…" Ukraine related all the information to Canada, and he seemed to understand it, nodding slowly as the story went by. Eventually, Belarus finished with her yelling at America, and Ukraine had nearly gotten finished with the whole story. America was standing in shock, looking like his pride had been seriously damaged. Then, the four of them went back to Ukraine's farmhouse, and in the private room they everything explained once more and in great detail by Belarus, and they began to try to solve the mystery that was Georgia.

Georgia was sitting on her bed, watching the two boys work diligently on putting together the object she had asked them to. It was crude and box-like, with the explosives inside of packets attached to fuses, all arranged in specific areas in the boxlike thing, with the power cell at the bottom. Sealand eventually looked up at Georgia kicking her feet on the side of the bed. "Why don't you work? It was your idea after all." Georgia shot him a look, "Because I asked you to do it. Do I need a better reason than that?" Sealand stood up, walked over to her, and nodded. "Yes, yes you do. I don't want to keep making your secret project with you just watching." She stood up, and glared at him, though she was only about up to Sealand's nose. "I do not care whether or not you want to. You will do it." Sealand scowled at her, and put his hands on his hips. "Demetrius! Bring me a vase with a flower in it, please." After a while, her servant opened the door, bearing the desired item. "Here you are, Ms. Tsiklauri." She released her eyes locked on Sealand's eyes, both pairs radiating with a fight for dominance, and took the vase and flower, thanking her servant. He bowed and left the room, whistling an old Georgian folk song, which echoed down the hallway. She removed the flower from the vase, which was a small but long-stemmed white tulip, and held the vase opening-down, with her hand on the neck of it. She turned stood on the bed, turned to Sealand, and broke it over his head. He collapsed with a sharp "Mnm", and she giggled. Latvia watched this whole turn of events crawl by with wide eyes, and finally decided that Sealand deserved it. He was about to begin working again, when he found a small, long-stemmed, white tulip in his face. "Rairai, look what I got for you!" The small girl smiled at him, and waited for him to accept the flower. Of course, he had seen her ask the servant for it and then lay it on the bed, but it that made the gesture all the more innocent. He couldn't help cracking his own smile and taking the flower, laying it down next to him carefully. "Thank you, Tamar!" He looked at her with the same smile on his face. She hugged him again, and again he blushed a bit. "You are very welcome, Rairai." He hugged her back for a moment, and then they broke apart, and she giggled a little, and looked at him with a mock sternness on her face. "Now get back to work, Raivis." She giggled again, and he nodded with extenuated seriousness. He busied himself with the work for a while, and eventually Sealand came back over, rubbing his head, and began working as well. "Still want to not listen, Peter?" Sealand shot him a glare, and began working. "For your information, I just got out of ten minutes of work by lying on the floor." Latvia laughed. "But I got a flower. You got a welt on your head." Sealand silently mimicked the words said, in an annoyed fashion. Latvia laughed again. "If you were less of a bossy, self-centered person, you wouldn't have this problem!" Sealand shot him another glare, and put in another finished packet of explosives. At this moment, there was a knock at the door down the hall, and Georgia looked up from watching the two boys again. "I wonder who that can be…" She muttered, "Maybe it is big brother, here to be mad at me. Or big sister, here to kill me with her knives." But, as Demetrius called from the threshold, neither of these was true, "Tamar, Matthew is here to see you." Georgia grinned and returned the shout. "Let him in, then, Demetrius! He is always welcome." There was the sound of the door closing, and eventually, into Georgia's bedroom, came a boy of about eight years, wearing a blood-stained white cloak with a golden cross where his breastbone was under the cloak, and a rope for a belt. "Matthew!" She squealed and ran over to him, hugging him tightly. He hugged the small girl back, and smiled at her. "Hello, Tamar." Soon, Georgia noticed the bloodstains on Matthew's cloak. "What… why is there blood on your cloak, Matthew?" He looked down at himself as she took a step back. "Sorry, I forgot. Planto vestitus niveus." The blood on his clothes seemed to melt away, and he looked up and smiled at her, "There, is that better?" She looked a little skeptical. "Why was there blood, Matthew?" Throughout this time, Latvia and Sealand had been looking back and forth at each other, then at Matthew. Matthew stood indecisive for a moment, but then looked down at the floor. "Well, Ivan was stealing your oil… so I tried to stop him…" Georgia took a couple steps back over to him, seeming to have completely forgotten about the other two boys. "You fought big brother?" Matthew nodded and looked up at her. "He beat me, Tamar… I'm sorry…" She hugged him once more. "Maybe if you would stop being so modest about your abilities, you would win. I bet you did not use all your power." He shook his head and looked at the ceiling, "No… no I didn't. I want to be responsible with my gift…" She released him from the hug and looked up at his face. "If God gave you a gift to use that power, then why do you not use it when you need to protect yourself?" He shrugged, and went silent. After a brief moment of silence, he noticed Sealand and Latvia and turned to them. "Who are these boys, Tamar?" His hand immediately pulled his Bible out of his cloak, and glared at the two boys who sat at the box. Georgia stepped between him and them, and pointed each one out, "This is Rairai; he is Latvia. This is Peter; he is Sealand," She then turned to introduce her white-cloaked friend, "This is Matthew; he is Armenia." Latvia immediately stood up and extended his hand, shaking a little. Armenia took it, and they shook hands. The white-cloaked boy looked down at Georgia, "I like him. He's respectful." He then turned to Sealand, "I've heard of you from my brother… he said you were an egocentric, self-loving, recognized only by yourself, ass." Sealand stood up to his full height, looked at Armenia a little angrily. Just the look on his face set Armenia off, and Sealand was slammed against the wall after being hit with a Bible, the room having filled with light, and Sealand slid down the wall groaning. "If you come within five feet of Tamar, I will hit you harder than that." Sealand nodded, and crab-crawled to the box, giving Armenia and Georgia a wide berth. Latvia sat back down next to the box, chuckling a little at Sealand. "You said something about your brother. Who is he?" Armenia turned to Latvia and sighed, "Much to my regret, my older brother is Turkey." Latvia looked between Georgia and Armenia, "So, if Georgia was such a secret, how did you two meet?" Armenia chuckled a little, "I knew dear Tamar here long before Ivan did. I met her during the First Crusade, when we both shared a common goal; to take Jerusalem. But then I was not as close to her as I was now…" Latvia continued the questioning, "How did you two get so close?" Armenia smirked a little, and sat down on the bed, taking his hood off, revealing long brown hair that went down the back of his cloak, so the true length was impossible to guess, and bright, energetic blue eyes, that had a glimmer of lost happiness, faltered hope, and unending faith. "You might want to get comfortable if you want to hear the long story. But I'll make it as short as I can.

"I'm sure you all know about World War One. Well, I played a very important part in it. As the Ottoman Empire collapsed, my dear brother searched desperately for someone to blame and punish. Since I was Christian, and he was Muslim, and my people were living all over his land, I was the easiest to blame. So, one day, he showed up at my house, looking a little flustered. Since I had grown close to my older brother, I let him in, and he sat at my table and we talked over some wine. After an hour or two, he, seemingly randomly, pulled out his sword, and swung it at me. I ducked the swing, and knocked my chair over backwards so I could flip to my feet behind it. He leapt over the table and swung the sword again, and I stopped it with my thick Bible. I kicked him in the gut, and he stepped backward, out of breath. Then, he lunged forward, this time taking a stab at the Bible. It blocked the stab, but suddenly his hand wrenched the holy book from my grasp. He took another swing with his sword and I spun out of the way, trying to avoid the blade. It cut me along the shoulder, and I fell on my back. I crawled away on my back, and he stepped towards me, raising the sword to deliver a devastating blow. I muttered a phrase in Latin, and he flew into the ceiling in a flash of light. So, at this point, I stood and ran out my door. He pursued me, and soon I found myself surrounded by his janissaries, all with their guns trained on me. What was I to do? He came behind me, and pushed the tip of his sword against my back. 'We have somewhere for you to go, Matthew.' He said to me cruelly. They led me to the edge of the desert. 'You can make bread from stones, yes?' He pushed me. 'Then go and eat your bread in the desert!' Then he shoved me into the desert, and his janissaries all laughed at me, as did he. I stumbled around blindly, until I found a place to sleep under a tree. I heard a weak voice call to me, 'You too, huh?' I turned, and saw a woman leaning against the tree in the darkness. 'Yeah.' 'We can help each other.' 'Maybe.' 'Really. Two people can survive a lot easier than one.' 'Only if there's something to survive on.' 'That's where I can help you.' I raised an eyebrow at her, 'What do you mean?' 'There's this place, just down the hill, and there's some food. But I'm too weak to get it.' 'So you want me to…' 'That's where you can help me. Together, we can survive.' I nodded at her. 'Let's get some sleep, I'll show you in the morning.' So we slept, in fairly close proximity. The desert is a freezing place at night, when the moon is the only source of light, and the only source of heat is the human body. In the morning, I helped her stand, and we went step by step down the hill to the area with food. Once we reached it, she collapsed, even with me holding her up. She looked up at me and muttered something about hunger and thirst wrecking a person, and I dashed over to the food. It was odd; it was just sitting there on a rock, like someone had left it for us. I took some of it, and gave it to her. I helped her eat it until she could eat it herself again, and grabbed some water as well, which she drank. She sat up, and looked seriously at me. 'Hundreds of people have died because of the Ottomans… I hope we do not become two of those people.' I shook my head at her. 'We won't be, don't worry.' I turned around to see if there was any food left that I could give her, to see the rock full again. I stepped cautiously over to it, and brought her some more food. This process continued until she was full, and the rock simply kept replenishing itself. I walked over to it, and a little voice called to me, 'Aren't you hungry too, Matthew?' I recognized Georgia's voice immediately, and looked around, 'Tamar? Where are you?' She looked up from behind another rock at me, 'I've been trying to help as many of your people as I could, Matthew. I'm sorry about the many that I couldn't get to.' I smiled at her, 'Tamar, that is perfectly alright.' 'Now aren't you going to eat, Matthew?' She asked me, a little concerned. I nodded, and took a piece of bread from the rock, and sat chewing on it. She came and sat next to me. 'I thought, since I was at it, I may as well save you, too.' I spent the next few months with the two of them out in the desert. After that time, we snuck back into Istanbul, and took up a secret residence for Armenians. After the Great War ended, and the Ottoman Empire collapsed and became Turkey, we paid a visit to my brother. My Bible was sitting on his table, looking like he had many times tried to get rid of the book. So, Georgia introduced herself, and we took the Bible back forcibly. During World War Two, only I, Sadik, and Ivan knew about her."

Latvia looked at him for a while, "Wow…" There was nothing said for a while, and Armenia simply looked at Latvia as he slowly got back to work. There was another knock at the door, and Demetrius announced that it was Sadik. "Perfect timing…" Armenia muttered, quickly putting his hood back up. Georgia went out to personally greet him, and Turkey wandered in, led by the hand by Georgia into her bedroom. Turkey saw Armenia and grinned, "Well, hi there, Matthew!" Armenia nodded to him, "Hello, Sadik. I see you've been with Greece." Turkey, having taken his fez off so as not to be blamed for disrespect by Georgia, revealed a large lump on his head, along with the many scratches on his face already visible. "How did you know that?" Armenia shrugged, "The scratch marks on your face, and the large lump on your head might have clued me in." Turkey shrugged as well, "Not my fault if he can't take defeat like a man." Armenia's face, though invisible, could be presumed to have raised an eyebrow. "Defeat at what? Who's the stupidest?" Turkey frowned, "Come on, Matthew, can't we be friends? Oh, by the way, where'd you put my dinner?" Armenia balled his fists, suggesting that his face had gone angry under the shadow of the hood. "Who said I made you dinner?" "Me. I asked you to, remember?" Armenia shook his head, "Just because you asked me to, doesn't mean I did." Turkey frowned again, "But Matthew, maybe I-" He never got to finish this sentence, as Georgia's foot implanted itself into his shin and he yowled in pain hopping once or twice, "Tamar! What was that for?" She scowled at him, "For being annoying to my best friend." Turkey rubbed the leg, after putting lightly down on the ground again, "I wasn't that annoying was I?" Armenia nodded, and walked forward, pushing Turkey for the door, and Turkey tried to resist, "Go bug Egypt or something. He's around here somewhere, I saw him." Sure enough, outside the door, Egypt was walking by, for what reason, no one could tell, but Turkey found himself lying on top of that aforementioned man, and he smiled at him. "Well, hi there, Gupta!" Egypt made a muffled noise from under Turkey's chest, "Hi, Sadik… can you get off of me, please?" Turkey stood up, and helped Egypt up, "What are you doing here?" Egypt looked at him oddly, "Looking for you. You asked me to make you dinner, remember?" Armenia shook his head and turned back inside, shutting the door and walking back to Georgia's bedroom. He looked at Georgia, "But how are we supposed to build this without oil, Tamar?" She shrugged, "I have no idea…" Latvia stood up shakily, "Well… I do."

Russia slammed the door open to his house, and Estonia and Lithuania, who were standing in the hall, froze, and began trembling. Russia smiled at them, "Hello, Lithuania, Estonia. Where is Latvia?" The two of them looked at each other, gulped and shook their heads and shrugged. "You do not know? That means he left, da?" They looked at each other again, and then back at Russia, nodding slowly. He stepped towards them angrily, and the hallway went dark, and his hands went to Lithuania's shoulders. "You could not stop him from leaving? He is small, da? You are both larger than him, da? How is it that someone so small as him could escape from two people who are larger than him, like you?" Lithuania tried to stammer something out, "H-he left b-before we n-noticed he was g-gone, Russia…" Russia squeezed harder, and there was a crack as yet again his shoulders snapped, and he turned him toward the door, shoving him out it, then grabbed Estonia and did the same. "Find him, da? I do not want him screwing up my plan." They nodded, and he slammed the door in their faces. Lithuania looked at Estonia, "Where do you think Raivis went?" Estonia shrugged, "I have no idea… but we have to find him." Lithuania looked like he was getting an idea, "Estonia, call America, and I'll talk to him." Estonia nodded, and made the call. He held the phone to Lithuania's ear, since the boy with broken shoulders couldn't hold it himself. "Hey, Alfred, it's Toris. Where are you? A farmhouse outside of Kiev? Well, we're coming over there, we need some help."

* * *

Planto vestitus niveus: Make the clothing white.

From the last chapter (sorry): Vigoratus: Heal.

I apologize for the spelling of apologize in the last note, and I hope you enjoyed the longest chapter yet. Please review, please request for other stories or this one, and please please keep reading! I apologize for any OOC that bugs you, and if you don't like my OCs, I'm sorry about that too. And, about the cliffhangerish things; the sombrero told me to. I kid you not. I flipped it and it told me to be mean. So I did. From a lack of coins. But anywho, I repeat myself in reviewing, requesting, and reading. Don't you feel so sorry for Lithuania's shoulders?


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lithuania and Estonia showed up in a timely manner, and walked to the farmhouse, getting directions from Ukraine all the way. When they arrived, America was leaning on the doorpost, and he waved at them. "Hi, Estonia. Hey, Toris!" _He's always so excited to see me._ Lithuania smiled and waved, "Hi, Al." America opened the door for them, and came in behind them. "So you're looking for Latvia? Well, I can tell you where he isn't. He's not here, and he's not on the plane that you were on, and he's not at Russia's house." Lithuania chuckled, "We'd figured that out for ourselves, thanks. Where's everyone else?" America pointed to a shut door, "They're in there. Natalya won't let me in. Says I talk too much." Lithuania laughed and shook his head, "She's had a rough few days." With this, he knocked on the door, waiting for someone to open it. Ukraine did, and Lithuania suddenly felt himself enveloped in mufflers. "You actually came! You'll stay, right?" Lithuania tried to speak with some difficulty, "Ys, we cm. Wll sty ntl we fnd Ltva." She released him, "What was that?" "Yes we came. We'll stay until we find Latvia." He took a deep breath, as Ukraine stepped past him and hugged Estonia, getting the same reaction. Lithuania felt two gloved hands on his shoulders, and heard America's voice whisper in his ear, "I'm going to hide behind you, and we'll see if Belarus notices and lets me in." Lithuania grinned and walked in slowly, so as not to get America caught. Sadly, the contrast of hair color and a four-armed, four-footed Lithuania tipped Belarus off. "America, I told you not to come back in here!" She jumped off of her seat on the table and pulled out her knife, and America stepped out from behind Lithuania and raised his hands in the air. "You got me! Just don't stab me, please." Belarus breathed heavily, and Canada chuckled in his chair. Ukraine and Estonia came in shortly afterwards, and Ukraine giggled at seeing Belarus, who was now chasing America around the table, knife extended. "Please, please don't kill me!" Ukraine looked at Lithuania. "So you have no idea where Latvia is?" Lithuania shook his head. "None in the least." Belarus stopped chasing America, and he collapsed in a chair, panting, and she turned to Lithuania, breathing heavily. She was so pretty when she leaned on the table… "He probably ran off to Georgia." Lithuania looked a little surprised, "What makes you say that?" Belarus put her forehead to the table, "You were in the room with those two; he practically treated the girl like a princess." Lithuania felt stupid; of course he went to Georgia! But Belarus stopped him as he was about to turn out the door, "Wait. Toris, you may be able to help us." He turned back, and raised an eyebrow at her, thinking that it was quite kind of her to give him an invitation to stay… "Wipe that grin off of your face, Toris. I'm not asking you to screw me." He blushed brightly. "We're trying to figure out why Georgia would want to shoot a rocket at Russia." Ukraine had taken a seat near Canada, who looked at her, wishing he was more noticeable. _She noticed me once… maybe she'll notice me again! She's so pretty… oh, I wish she would notice me again… I liked it so very much when she did…_ He was snapped back into reality when he realized that she was looking straight at him, a warm smile on her face. "Like something you see, Mattie?" He blushed to the color of one of his Mounty jackets, and looked at the floor, "I-I was j-just thinking that y-you were… y-you were… y-you were v-very p-pretty, Katyusha…" Her face lit up, and she scooted her chair closer so she could hug him briefly, causing him to blush all the redder. "Aww, thank you Mattie." He looked back at the events transpiring before him. Lithuania was now sitting, talking with Estonia and Belarus about Georgia and Latvia, and America sat leaning back, listening to the conversation. There wasn't much to do. He stood up, and smiled weakly at Ukraine. "I-I'm going to go take a walk." She nodded absentmindedly, as if she hadn't really heard him. He sighed, and walked out the door to get some fresh air. He sat on a wooden, handmade bench, and put his hands in his lap, looking out at the Ukrainian farmland, the small amounts of wheat swaying in the wind, the white-topped mountain in the background, covered mostly in trees, except at its well-rounded, but still majestically jagged summit. He saw a river that flowed between a few trees, and he sort of wished he could sit by that river… but not alone. He was tired of being lonely. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw his twin grinning down at him. "Hey, Mattie, whatcha thinkin' about?" Canada looked back to the river, "T-that river over there…" He pointed at the area, "I kind of want to sit by it…" America sat beside him on the sturdy bench. "Let me guess; you don't want to sit alone? And you don't want to sit with me either." Canada turned his face to his brother, who was smiling at him kindly. As much as America was deemed, and was truly, an idiot, he understood a lot more than he let on. "If I were to take a guess, I'd say that you'll be sitting by that river tomorrow or the next day." Canada smirked at him, "O-oh? I-if you're such a p-prophet, who will I be s-sitting with?" America put an arm around his shoulder, "If I were to take another guess, I'd say it would be Ukraine." America made a mock stretch, and stood up. "Unless of course, you'd rather sit with me." They both laughed, and America turned to him before going back inside, "I was serious, you know. About the whole sitting by the river with Ukraine thing. Well, as long as you get up the guts to ask her to sit with you. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" With that, he went back inside, and Canada was left alone to his thoughts. _It wouldn't be hard for you, Al… but why would she want to sit with me? I'm nothing special…_

Sealand looked between the three others sitting by him at the edge of the border fence. "Is this really such a good id-" Before he could finish his sentence, he was cracked on the back of the head with a Bible. "Shut up, Peter. Be a man and get this over with." Armenia, presumably, since his eyes were shaded by the hood still, glared at Sealand, and Sealand glared right back. After a little while, Georgia had managed to dig a hole under the fence large enough for all of them that could be easily filled up afterwards. She went through first, followed immediately by Latvia. Armenia motioned at the tunnel to Sealand with a cocked grin, "Ladies first." Sealand rolled his eyes at the white-cloaked boy and slipped under, followed by Armenia. When the four of them had slipped through, Latvia led them to the nearest of Russia's many military bases, and they waited, their backs up against a wall, for the guards to come by. Ever since the whole sneaking ordeal had begun, Russia's defenses had increased tenfold. So ten guards marched by. Armenia stuck his head around the wall and waved at them, then thumbed his nose and made a 'plplplplplplp!' sound with his tongue, and the guards ran for them. Armenia nodded to his other three companions, and they snuck around the other side of the building. The guards loaded their rifles and fired at Armenia, only to find that, with a wave of his hand, the bullets exploded in midair. Armenia kept his head down, so that not only his eyes were hidden, but the rest of his face as well. He held the Bible extended, and spoke something eerily in Latin, causing the book to glow, and a ring of fire to drift lazily around him, reflecting dangerously off of his cloak. He pushed the air with his Bible, and the fire formed into a ball and flew at the soldiers, sending them scattering around. One managed to sound the alarm, and Armenia smirked to himself. _Here comes the fun part._ The guards began firing machine guns, rockets, and all manner of weaponry at Armenia, only to be dismayed by the same reaction consistently; that the weapons would stop just short of success. In the meanwhile, Georgia, Latvia and Sealand snuck around to where the tanks were being loaded. There were three larger tanks at the back, with captains standing beside them. _Perfect._ Georgia grinned at Latvia, and the three of them crept behind another building until they were adjacent to the captains. Sealand pulled out a small knife, Latvia pulled his sharpened stick from somewhere, and Georgia brought forth a gleaming metal rod. She nodded to her companions, and they dashed out, each taking care of a captain. Sealand leapt onto one's back, and knocked him out with the handle of the knife. Latvia jabbed the second captain with the stick, so he turned around, to be met with a foot in his privates, and then the blunt end of a stick to the face. Georgia kicked the third captain in the shin, and while he was hopping, she hit him in the hip with the rod, and knocked him over the head with it. They each began to drag a tank back around the building where they could load them in peace. They did, and they put on the radio communicators that sat in each one, connecting them to the others. "How do I steer this thing?" Sealand sounded genuinely confused, and Georgia and Latvia jointly explained the concept of analog steering. Once finished with this, the drove the tanks out around the back, until they neared Armenia, who hopped onto the back of Georgia's tank, and deflected weapons from them. Just as they were about to escape and knock over a portion of the fence, an explosion stopped them from moving forward. The three in the tanks opened the tops, to see the cause of the explosion. When the flying snow and water cleared, Russia stood before them, pipe in hand, and his face projecting fury. "You miss me, Ivan?" Armenia hopped off of the back of the tank, clutching his Bible tightly, and not looking nearly as confident as he sounded. Ivan gave a twisted, evil looking grin, kolkolkoling as the pipe in his hand raised a little. Georgia walked up to him, and looked straight into his face. "Russia, if you are going to be mean, then so am I!" She kicked him in the shin, harder than she had kicked anyone before, and he winced and bent a little, his pipe swinging out to collide with her. There was another flurry of snow, and three boys strained to see, especially when they heard an 'nn' from Georgia. The snow cleared once more, and revealed an astounding sight. Russia, having swung with full might, had his pipe pressed against Georgia's rod, with her hands on either end of it, in a blocking position. Both of their faces showed an unbreakable will, and one could almost draw violet and orange lines, meeting in the middle, and burning together. After this death stare had lasted for a while, they broke away simultaneously, and the next thing that happened caused all three of the boys to cower in fright. Georgia leapt back on top of a tank, Russia stepped back and held his pipe at the ready. The area around Georgia began to glow a fiery, illuminating, and downright scary orange, while the area around Russia glowed with a dark, frightening, intimidating purple, and neither seemed aware of this occurrence. Both leapt back into the fight; Georgia jumped off of the tank and made an attempt to bring the rod down on Russia's head, which was deflected by his pipe. They interchanged blows, and each blow emanated with fury, terrible fear, and intimidating willpower, and a glow of orange and purple erupted from every contact of the metal objects. To the greatest shock of all, Georgia knocked Russia's knees from under him, and, in a fit of blind anger, pinned him down on the ground, using the rod as a mechanism for choking. Russia gripped at the rod, trying to push it off of his throat, but she was determined to the end the whole thing then and there. He eventually did manage to kick her off, and grabbed his pipe, and was about to swing it down with catastrophic force. Suddenly, there was another figure in front of Russia. Armenia had darted out, lifting his Bible in defense. Russia brought down the pipe just as Armenia dashed out. The pipe seemed like it would hit the Bible, no, it certainly would hit the Bible, it would be deflected, all would be well, but alas; it was not to be. The pipe came down on Armenia's right shoulder, and there was a blood-curdling crack and a scream from Armenia, as the pain sent him unconscious and he fell to his knees, then his face. Sealand was frozen, watching as Russia raised the pipe once more. This time, though, Latvia ran out in front of the two people in the snow, raising his arms, palms extended, to Russia. Sealand went ghost white; his best friend was about to die. "Mr. Russia, wait!" Russia paused for a moment, contemplating Latvia. "Is this what you want to be doing? You smashed Lithuania's shoulders, twice! You beat Armenia, and now are about to kill him! You're about to kill your own sister, Mr. Russia… is that what you want to do? Kill your own sister and her best friend?" Russia froze, and his pipe lowered to his side. "She is not… my sister… nyet… nyet…" He raised the pipe again, his eyes regaining their dark haze. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around his torso, and yanked him backwards. Turkey's voice came from behind the coated Russian, "Take Matthew and get out of here! And take those tanks, too! I opened up a piece of the fence; you guys can get through now! Go! I can only hold him so- nn!" Latvia could only oblige, slinging Armenia over his shoulder, and hopping into a tank, followed by a weary Georgia and Sealand. All three drove the tanks through the opened piece of the fence, and made their way back to Georgia's house.

Turkey stumbled back as the bottom of a pipe crashed into his kidney. He fell to his knees and looked back at the retreating tanks. If he didn't hold Russia back long enough, his brother, his brother's best friend, his brother's best friend's new surrogate brother, and his brother's best friends' new surrogate brother's best friend would all be stopped, and probably killed. Not to mention the countless Georgian soldiers on the base. Turkey pulled out the very sword he had used during his days as the Ottoman Empire, about to commit genocide on his own brother. It was a dumb and likely not a memorable gesture, but it was more that he hoped to prove to himself that the deed could be reversed. Obviously, it couldn't, but it was still a nice thought. The pipe swung at him, and he lifted his sword, in a blocking position, and muttered desperately, "Allah is the only God and Muhammad is his prophet…" The pipe clanged on the sword as the momentum shifted and he jumped back, letting the pipe drop. He raised the sword, and made a swing down, muttering once again, "Allah is the only God and Muhammad is his prophet…" It made a horrendous screech as the blade scratched across the rough round metal of the pipe, and there was suddenly a booted foot in his stomach. He clamored backwards and fell to his rear, rolling out of the way of the pipe as it crashed into the snow. _Religion works so well for Matthew, why won't it work for me?_ He contemplated this as he, surprisingly nimbly, avoided the pipe swings. _Well… then again… I'm not dead yet._ He spun with the sword, and found the blade to have gotten dangerously close to Russia's face, but was bisected at the perpendicular with the water pipe. Turkey thought for a moment, and began again speaking the core foundation of his belief, feeling a confidence roll through him. _No wonder Matthew always carries his Bible around with him._ "Allah is the only God and Muhammad is his prophet…" This whole ordeal seemed to be just freaking Russia out, and driving him into a deeper frenzy. _Okay, so maybe Matthew has more practice with the religion thing…_ The pipe smashed into Turkey's side, and he crashed onto the ground, Russia standing triumphantly over him, the pipe over his head, ready to deal a devastating blow. But the blow never came. Russia stalked off, back to his house, and when he reached it, he kicked the door open, and knocked the door open to his office. He opened one of the drawers, and then another, and another, frantically looking for something he so desperately desired. For once, it wasn't vodka. It was a handgun. When he found it, he lifted it, and put it out on the table. He stared at it for a while, contemplating the idea. He shook his head and tucked it back into its place in the drawer. There were better uses for such single-shot ammunition. He walked over to the closet, and opened it, groping through the darkness for the alternate, and more dangerous, choice. He pulled out an old-looking AK-47, painted in flecktarn, a mixture of a bland, light blue, a mud brown, and a grayish white, all thrown together into a camo-like paintjob on the whole weapon. He smirked at it, and felt how natural it felt in his hands. He held it in one hand as he lifted the phone on his desk, and dialed his boss. "Da, boss, do you suppose we could spare a few troops? Da? Excellent. Well, my idea was a preliminary border infiltration of Georgia. The military base just adjacent to ours could be crucial in years coming, da?"

* * *

I'm sorry if you are a Muslim (or any other religion for that matter) and were offended by any of this stuff. I don't mean to be offensive, really I don't, and I don't mean to have any religious undertone either. It just so happens to be a motif whenever Armenia invades my stories flouting his Bible. Ohhhh, and I appologize for any obsencely bad OOCness, but yeah. If you couldn't tell, climactic piece is coming. After another Respite to Thought... because I'm lame like that. But anywho, please review, request as well, and keep reading! Oh, and recommend. Recommend this story to people who would like it, because I am too lazy to do so. So there are four Rs. Remember the Rs. If you include Remember, there are five, but we shall stick with four. Review, request, read, and recommend. Thank ya, thank ya, thank ya.


	12. Respite to Thought Latvia

Respite to Thought: Latvia

_Tamar…_

_I know that you don't want to hurt Mr. Russia._

_But he doesn't know that._

_He obviously is very angry._

_I know what you're going to do, Mr. Russia._

_You're going to walk home and do one of two things._

_The first option would be to drink vodka until your head spun, and then steadily break Lithuania's appendages._

_But, from what I can tell, that's not what you're going to do._

_You're angry, not sad._

_So you're going to walk into your office, and dig through your drawers._

_And dig until you find what you're looking for._

_You're going to put it out on the table and stare at it for a little bit._

_You're going to want to shoot someone with it._

_But you don't know who, do you?_

_You want to shoot me, because I just stood up to you right in your face._

_You want to shoot Tamar, because you think she wants to shoot you too._

_You want to shoot Armenia, because he wants to defend Tamar._

_You want to shoot Turkey, because he tried to save us all._

_But most of all, and scariest of all…_

_You want to shoot yourself._

_You don't think anyone knows that, do you?_

_But I do._

_I listen to you sometimes, when you're angry or sad and rambling nonsense._

_It's not really nonsense, is it?_

_Everyone else just thinks it is._

_So I pretend that I think it is just like everyone else, but I really listen._

_You talk about being angry at yourself a lot._

_Not everything's your fault, Mr. Russia…_

_Sometimes, people grow up._

_People change._

_People move._

_People learn._

_And that's not your fault._

_You are just always grasping for an explanation as to why everyone seems to be leaving you, and it just so happens to be at a time when you just failed in hiding your sister._

_The first explanation you grasp is that you caused the whole thing._

_But there are so many more explanations!_

_But when you're done grasping for explanations and blaming yourself for the problems of everyone around you…_

_Then you'll get another idea._

_You'll decide that something that doesn't exist is easier to protect and maintain._

_So you'll put your small gun away._

_And you'll walk to your closet._

_I saw the gun in the drawer, but never what's in the closet._

_Which means that it can't be good for the rest of everyone._

_But, oh, Mr. Russia, if only you could see the remarkable things Tamar is doing for you._

_You'll see them eventually, Mr. Russia!_

_Just as long as nobody gets hurt._

_She misses you, you know._

_She still loves you._

_Tamar, you are still attached to Mr. Russia…_

_And I am attached to you._

_You go through life as stubborn as a six year old, but every bit as sweet and loving as well._

_And I couldn't help but notice…_

_Rairai._

_That name is almost a little embarrassing, just thinking about it makes me blush…_

_But that's probably because you gave it to me._

_You're like a little sister, one who comes with all the strings attached._

_You tied me up with those strings._

_And now you made me your new brother._

_And I guess I'm okay with that._

_Es mīlu tevi, saldais maz māsa._

_Is this just an effect you have on people?_

_Do you automatically rope them in and turn them into surrogate siblings?_

_Or am I just missing that link in my family and am putting you in it?_

_Either way, that doesn't change anything…_

_So maybe we can all learn to be a great big, largely dysfunctional family._

_That would be nice._

_I'm so tired of all this fighting._

* * *

Don't hate me for this! Please! The story will resume shortly. And that section in Latvian up there, means 'I love you, sweet little sister.' Just so you know, and don't have to look up some translator. If you don't like these Respite to Thoughts, suck it up, because they're necessary to plot. And they develop characters. And the characters are currently in need of development. I can guarantee that, if you thought the story was reaching a climactic piece... well... sort of. It's reaching a mini-climax, da? Mui bien. So, let's remember our 'r's, shall we, and review, request, read, and recommend! Merci!


	13. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

In the farmhouse outside of Kiev, everything seemed to be doing decently. Lithuania, Estonia, and Belarus had come up with a plan to go and find Latvia and confirm their suspicions about Georgia all in one fell swoop. America had contributed little and talked a lot, providing ample background noise to the whole ordeal. Canada had sat, quietly listening, and occasionally telling America something useful, who would then say it more loudly and obnoxiously. Ukraine mostly sat and listened, and her eyes drifted. She often forgot what they drifted to shortly after their drifting had been corrected, but now was a time when she remembered. The boy in the chair across the table, who occasionally whispered to his twin beside him, and more often watched her, was largely the object of her drifting. His eyes drifted far less often; they were almost constantly on her. He was resolving in his mind whether or not to ask her if she'd like to go and sit by the river. His initial argument was that it would be dumb, and he would sound like an idiot, like his brother. On the other hand, there was nothing to lose; he had nothing to lose in this instance in the first place. But he needed to word it correctly… might as well sound as little of an idiot as possible. He thought over various methods of getting to the subject, and eventually decided on one that seemed the least stupid and nonsensical. America was snoozing in his chair at this point, Belarus was glaring at him and fingering a polished black hilt, Lithuania was sitting with his arms crossed, watching Belarus, and Estonia was saying something that had no relevance to the topic they had just finished. Canada stood up, and slid the chair back silently, walking around the table towards the door, which Ukraine was sitting next to. He put his hand on her shoulder briefly, and spoke quietly, "I-I'm going to go t-take a walk… y-you look bored, would you l-like to come?" She turned to him, a little startled at first, and smiled, "Of course I would, Mattie." He helped her up, and in the moment that their hands touched, their eyes met. His heart balled up its arterial fists and took a well-aimed swing at Canada's ribcage. Again and again the mad heart raged, its ecstatic eccentricity giving Canada a numb feeling in his far appendages that crept like a cool, chilled liquid down his veins, his brain's attempt at calming the beastly heart. It only succeeded in making the heart stomp its muscular little feet, and sending a shiver down Canada's spine. He finally pulled her up, after what seemed like an eternity of the gateways of two souls interchanging each other's keys. He opened the door for her, and shut it softly behind them, and they walked through the hallway until they came to the front door. He opened that for her as well, and stepped back so she could cross the threshold, and he followed yet again, shutting the door minimally softly yet again. Now, since he was the one who suggested the walk, began walking down the dirt road, until he came to a small, dusty path that led down to the trees and river in the distance. He turned his head to see Ukraine right behind him, coming to walk beside him. "Not much to do when they're having a conversation, is there?" Canada nodded at her question, and replied with a small smile, "Th-they all seem like they th-think they're they only ones w-who understand the s-situation…" Ukraine giggled a little, and her fingers brushed his softly, and he blushed a small bit. His heart again took a swing at his ribs, and he took a fleeting look at their hands. They talked a little bit, though not excessively, as they walked down to the forest, all the way their fingers bumping lightly, both parties afraid of whether or not the other had the same intentions. They eventually reached the trees, and Canada had to make a remark, "Th-they are v-very pretty trees…" He mentally reprimanded himself for saying such a stupid thing, but it was received well. "Yes, yes they are." Her face brightened, "I can hear the river!" It was a quiet river, and made more of a trickling murmur than the typical flowing rush of a river. They came around the bend of the path, past a small patch of trees, and found the river. It was a shallow river, though it was wide, and many heads of stony bottoms of the ground protruded from the lapping of the clear water. She sat down on a ledge, so that her legs hung off over the water, and looked up at him. "Will you sit with me? I've always liked sitting here by the river." Canada smiled broadly inwardly, and nodded, taking a seat next to her. This was a lot easier than he thought it was going to be. They had a small conversation, in the middle of which, Canada realized that his hand was now sitting softly on hers. She realized this at the same time, and they looked at their laps, blushing. But their hands didn't budge.

Georgia lay on her bed, her face pressed into her pillow, soaking the case of it in hasty tears. She had one hand gripped on the corner of the pillow; the other was wrapped in the sheets, her fingers weaving into it as if she were strangling some entity of evil that dwelt in it. Armenia sat on the edge of the bed, his hand on her shoulder, having at first tried to speak soft words of comfort, but now had given up, and was just sitting and hoping his hand simply being there might bring about a little bit of comfort. Latvia was standing at the edge of the bed, not sure what to do, but watching Georgia with much pity and hope that she'd recover. Sealand was leaning against the wall, doing his best to avoid looking at anything except the floor or the ceiling, which for some reason he found particularly interesting. Georgia finally, after fifteen to twenty minutes of straight crying, took her head out of the pillow and looked up at Armenia. "Why does he not love me anymore, Matthew?" Armenia patted her back affectionately, "He still loves you, Tamar. Sadik tried to kill me, and I may not like him, but he is still my brother, and I still love him." Georgia sniffled once or twice, "B-but he said that I was n-not his sister any longer…" Her eyes filled again with moisture as she sat up, and she leaned her face into Armenia's cloak. Latvia sat on the other side of her, and put his arm around her shoulders, "He can say whatever he wants. He says all kinds of things when he's drunk; he doesn't mean three fourths of them. He's just angry right now. In just a few days, all of this will have boiled down, and you'll see that he still loves you." Georgia took her face from Armenia's now watered white clothing. "But how do you know?" He sighed, and Armenia spoke for him, the hand that had been rubbing her back now brushing a strand of loose hair out of her face. "I always go back to Sadik, don't I? Always have. It doesn't matter how much of a jerk he is, I always go back and forgive him." Georgia's voice erupted once more and cracked a few times midsentence, "But I do not want his forgiveness! I never did anything wrong!" She sobbed again and leaned her head forward, looking at her lap. Armenia took the braids that had made the two long tails in her hair and undid them, letting her long hair fall about her eyes in a very veil-like fashion. Latvia released his arm around her, and leaned on his palm, which was lying behind her back. She continued crying, her shoulders shaking, like some invisible spirit had her by the arms and was lifting them up and down in some insane dance. Armenia and Latvia looked at each other. "But Mr. Russia doesn't know that… He will soon, though." Latvia spoke quietly and soothingly. She didn't seem to notice his words, or at least showed no effect of them on her emotions. Her large coat was getting stained with a wet spot that went down from the bottom of her throat, as her tears streamed down her cheeks, accompanied by small hiccups of sorrow. Armenia shot a look at Latvia, mouthing, 'What kind of comfort is that?' Latvia mouthed back, 'I'm just trying my best!' Armenia sighed and put his hand on Georgia's shoulder. "Tamar, it'll be okay. I know it will." They sat in silence for a while, and eventually, an unusual voice cut the silence, and left it lying on the floor, bleeding it's strangeness into the room. "Russia may be big, and sometimes bad-tempered, and may be a little sadistic, but he's just a child on the inside." All three on the bed looked up to see Sealand having moved to right in front of them. "And he's just confused, trying to get his feelings straight. He knows he's mad at something, and right now he thinks it's you, but he's just got his brain tied up in knots. He's mad at himself, Tamar. Not you. He'll figure that out soon." Sealand did the strangest thing then, which froze Latvia and Armenia. He kneeled in front of Georgia, and took her hands. "And I've just been adding to your problems. I'm sorry." With that, he kissed the knuckles on her left hand, and watched her through her thick hair. "I know it might not mean much, when what you want right now is for Russia to burst in the door and ask for forgiveness, but… in his stead, will you forgive me?" Georgia wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder, "Of course I'll forgive you… all countries deserve second chances…" Sealand blushed profusely, but gave a beam of pride that he was recognized as a country, and put his arms around the small girl who had clamored off of the bed to hug him. Latvia chuckled quietly, and Armenia watched silently, his thoughts unknown to the rest of the world. Georgia continued crying into Sealand's shoulder until there was a noise, and Demetrius said something unintelligible from the bedroom, and someone stumbled around in the outer rooms, until there was a large figure leaning on the doorframe. "Sadik!" Armenia jumped up from the bed, and dashed over to the wounded Turk. Turkey sank to his knees, and was about to fall over, when Armenia caught him in his arms. "Sadik… what happened?" Turkey looked up at Armenia through misty eyes, "You were knocked… unconscious… and… Tamar and you were about to be killed… and so was Latvia… so… I had to buy you some time… to escape…" Turkey's eyes closed for a moment, and they opened again, more glazed than before. Georgia recovered herself and stood, Latvia rising behind her, and Sealand turning. Armenia helped Turkey to his feet, and the four smaller people brought the large man over to the bed, where he laid down. Turkey looked at Armenia a long while before trying to speak, and his speech came out slurred, as a growing red stain spread on his chest, the shirt torn, where the pipe had scraped across it. "If… if this… is the last thing… I… say to you… I want you… to know… I… I've always been… sorry… about World War One… I… I…" He trailed off and his head fell back on the pillow, and Armenia fell forward, looking into his face. "No, no, no, no, no…" He removed his hood, revealing that his eyes were filled with glittering tears. His hair was falling out from inside the cloak, and hung about his face in a manner that was longer than Georgia's, brown and wiry, and was a foot and a half long, resting softly on Turkey's face. He muttered quietly, "Vigoratus…" The blood on Turkey began to disappear, very slowly, but stopped part way through. "Vigoratus!" He forced the word from his mouth, choking on tears, and a bit of the blood again disappeared. He pounded on the edge of the bed, "Vigoratus, damn it!" He shouted at the wound, and it began to obey, and heal itself. He sunk to his knees when it stopped once more, and pushed his head into the mattress. The silence of death echoed through the room.

Russia sat at the desk, a colonel sitting across from him. "Ivan, when did you come up with this idea, and why did you not come up with it before? This could be very lucrative! Georgia is a very oil-rich country; they store much of it. If we take the more of it than we already have, we'll be rolling in the money." Ivan chuckled evilly, "Da. We'll have to get ready soon, though. How quickly can we get enough troops?" The colonel thought for a moment, "It shouldn't take more than a few days, a week at most." "Do it in two weeks. And get twice as many troops, da?" Russia leaned back in his chair, and lifted the gun that was lying beside it. "Alright then, Ivan. Two weeks it is. The invasion can't take more than a day though… why so many troops?" Russia chuckled. "The Georgians are a lot stronger than we give them credit for, da?" The colonel nodded, "I see. Well, okay. I'll go and start getting some troops." The colonel stood and walked out the door, and Ivan stood, and shook hands with him before he left. He lifted the AK and kissed the barrel. "We will not go wrong in two weeks, will we, my shiny friend?"


	14. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Every day for the next week, Canada and Ukraine walked down to the river to talk about nothing in particular. They typically stayed there until about an hour before sundown, so they could go back to the farmhouse before dark. On the seventh day, though, Canada was about to stand up, when Ukraine grabbed his arm. "Wait… let's stay and watch the sunset, okay?" He smiled at her, and sat himself down again. Her hand fell down his arm and attached to his hand, and their fingers intertwined, like on every other day. They smiled at each other and gazed into the water for a little while. Ukraine scooted closer to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder, causing him to blush a little. She smiled up at him, and he smiled nervously down at her. She let go of his hand, and put her arm around his back, and he put his arm around her shoulders. Now they both smiled at each other, and talked a little, snuggling closely. After about an hour, an orange tinge reflected off of the surface of the water, and onto their faces. Canada looked from the water to her face, with a smile. _She's so cute with the orange glow on her face…_ Ukraine looked up at him and giggled. "Thank you, Mattie." He blushed beyond previous comparison. _I said that out loud?_ "Y-you're welcome, K-Katyusha… B-Because it's t-true…" She kissed his cheek, and the blush went even redder. She giggled again, and smiled at him broadly, "The orange on your blush is just adorable, Mattie." Again, the blush increased indefinitely, and he stared back at the river. "Y-you're still p-pretty anyway, K-Katyusha…" She squeezed him tighter, "Awww~, Mattie… Thank you." For the rest of that time, they sat for a little while, and eventually stood up and went back to the farmhouse. For the next six days they stayed out to watch the sunset, and became accustomed to sitting by the river in such close proximity. On the sixth day, they both sat, just like usual. As usual, Canada asked, "W-would you like to w-watch the s-sunset again, K-Katyusha?" She responded, in the usual way, "That would be very nice, Mattie." Then she leaned her head on his shoulder, and put her arm around him, and Canada put his arm around her shoulder. They sat for an hour, waiting for the sun to set, but the closer it came to the horizon, the closer Ukraine scooted to Canada. The closer Ukraine scooted to Canada, the closer he held her. The closer he held her, the more she turned towards him. The more she turned towards him, the more attention he paid her. The more attention he paid her, the more her face turned towards his. The more her face turned towards his, the more he watched her eyes. The more he watched her eyes, the more she wanted him to read them. The more she wanted him to read them, the deeper he gazed into them. The deeper he gazed into them, the farther forward she leaned. After the hour had come, so had the sunset, but neither of them noticed. For as the orange light reflected onto them, she had leaned close enough to him that their noses touched slightly. Canada blushed a bit, but watched her eyes still, and her eyes darted momentarily to his lips, then back up at his eyes. His heart ran at his ribs, trying to jump to hers, and made a large, dull thump repetitively. His eyes drifted to her nose, then her cheek, looking at anything but those lips or those eyes, both begging for the same thing. It was true; he did want to give it to them, yet he was very nervous about it. She decided to take it for herself and leaned into him, making a soft bridge between their lips. His eyes darted up to hers, which smiled at him. He blushed brightly, and his eyes obviously reflected his nervousness. She drew away and looked at the river. "I… I'm sorry, Mattie… I didn't… I wasn't thinking… that was inappropriate… that was—" He turned her to him again. "The best thing that has ever happened." With this he kissed her, wrapping both of his arms around her, and closing his eyes, and he felt her arms slip around his back, and they sat like that for a minute or two, and a minute turned to ten, and ten turned to sixty, and still they kissed, sitting on the side of the river. After a while longer, there was an, "Ahem." They parted abruptly, and turned to see Belarus standing, hands on her hips, one hand dangerously rubbing a finger against a black handle of some sort. Canada blushed brightly and dropped his arms, and Ukraine did the same. Belarus stood patiently, looking rather annoyed. "What do you two think you are doing out here?" Ukraine stood up and put her hands on her hips. "What does it look like we're doing?" Belarus' finger lingered on the handle. "It looks like you are doing what you should not be." Ukraine balled her fists, "What I should not be? So you decide what I should and shouldn't be doing now?" Belarus' hand was now gripping the handle. "Maybe I am." She began to take the knife out. Canada stood up, as Ukraine stepped forward angrily. He stood in between the two women, and spoke clearly and loudly. "We don't need anyone hurt. Got it? Nobody." Both Ukraine and Belarus were startled by the normally quiet Canadian. Belarus stepped forward, knife still in hand, regardless of warning from Canada. He spun, gripped the knife between two fingers, tugged, and threw it in to the river. "Nobody." She blinked once or twice, and they all sat staring at each other for a while. Belarus broke the silence, though spoke very quietly. "The reason I came out here at first, was to tell you that we are going on a plane to Georgia tomorrow." With this, she turned and walked back up to the farmhouse. Ukraine walked up to Canada, and slipped her hand into his, not questioning his sudden noticeability. As they walked, he turned back to his normal self, "I-I'm sorry a-about that, K-Katyusha…" She smiled at him. "Don't be. Everybody needs a little reminder sometimes." She kissed him on the cheek at this point, and said quietly, "And you can call me Katya."

The next day, everyone was on the plane to fly. Belarus sat by herself, behind her was America, sitting next to Lithuania. Across the aisle of the private jet, Canada sat with Ukraine, and behind them was Estonia. America, of course, was poking Belarus in the back of the head, and each time getting a louder, and angrier, "Cut it out! I WILL cut that finger off!" As the flight went on, she did eventually flick her knife up and slice the very end of America's finger off. He yowled and sucked on the bleeding finger, and Lithuania shook his head and chuckled. Canada tried not to laugh, and muttered to Ukraine, "H-he deserved that…" They soon arrived in Georgia.

Two weeks earlier, Armenia stood in the kitchen, trying desperately to deny the fact that his brother was lying on Georgia's bed, lacking in life. He began to go through the refrigerator, and looked for the ingredients in ashure. _I'll make him his favorite dessert… he'll smell it and he'll wake up. Yes. That's what I'll do._ He found the rice, the wheat, the beans, the chick peas, the sugar, a few dried fruits, and some various nuts. He began to make it, forgetting himself in the familiar recipe. After a while, he felt a tug on his sleeve, and he looked down to see Georgia looking up at him. "Matthew… please… he will not wake up just because you cooked him ashure…" Her orange eyes were large and round, and her hair had been braided again into the two tails. The orange round eyes had flecks of sadness in their corners, and a few stains of that sadness were visible on her cheek. She sniffled after the end of her sentence, and he looked away, back to the dessert. "He's not dead! He's just very tired after a tough fight. He'll wake up soon, and he will be happy, because I made him ashure." She sighed, and leaned against the wooden drawers, not saying anything. "No… Sadik is strong. He won't die just because a pipe scraped him… he's stronger than that… he's fine… I know it…" He broke down, the noise of crying coming from under the hood, and pounded his fists to the countertop. "Damn it, Russia! Why'd you have to kill him? Why?" He sunk to his knees and buried his face in his hands, rocking back and forth, saying the same words. "Meus frater est alive, meus frater est alive, MEUS FRATER EST ALIVE!" He screamed into his hands. Georgia cried just watching him, and wiped her eyes on her scarf. Armenia suddenly fell silent, and began muttering something. "Permissum meus frater occisor exsisto vomica morior unus, exsisto in poena moveo , reperio orbis terrarum lacer ex sub suus feet. Permissum suus vita exsisto pallium a him, permissum him sentio magis poena quam ut of mille mucro , quod permissum him ago insquequo sulum unus of lemma has loco a scindo in suus pectus pectoris. Permissum him forever eat gramen quod trudge dormio of civis, quod exsisto spat super per pauper, quod reprobo per dogs. Permissum him exsisto rectum iri per mancipium, quod sceptrum nusquam, non vel suus own sententia. Permissum him cado victor ut sulum morbus notus ut vir, quod permissum lemma perussi suus animus." (Let my brother's murderer be cursed to die alone, be in pain to move, find the earth torn from under his feet. Let his life be stolen away from him, let him feel more pain than that of a thousand swords, and let him live until every one of them has put a rend in his heart. Let him forever eat grass and trudge the slums of the cities, and be spat upon by beggars, and rejected by dogs. Let him be ruled by the slaves, and rule nothing, not even his own thoughts. Let him fall victim to every sickness known to man, and let them consume his soul.) Georgia cried harder, not understanding the words, but knowing that her brother had just been cursed. Sealand and Latvia stepped into the kitchen, and Latvia walked over to Georgia, putting his arm around her. Sealand walked over to Armenia, and knelt beside him. "We'll make it through this, Matthew, I know we will." Armenia shook his head, "What makes you so sure?" Sealand sighed and put his arm around Armenia's shoulder, "You're very strong, I know you're very strong. Tamar is very strong as well. We can all get through this." He tried to still the crying, and then sat silently beside the young boy in the white cloak and rope belt.

In two weeks' time, their position had not changed much. They all loitered around the house, having moved Turkey to a cold room, where he was frozen. Nobody had the heart to leave Armenia, as he sat on the bed, eating what was brought to him, and sleeping when told. He was always awake hours before even the servants woke, except on one day. Demetrius walked into the room, and sat down beside him on the bed. "Matthew, I know what you're going through." Armenia wanted to shove him away. "How could you know?"

"I had a brother once. It was a long time ago. He died in a very large war."

"If I may ask, what war was it?"

"It was a very long time ago… A very, very long time ago in a man's life."

"Just how long?"

"I've lived a very full and long life… longer than most men achieve."

"Don't play games with me, Demetrius; you don't look a day over thirty."

"When the Arabs invaded the Persian Empire." At this, he stood and walked out of the room, his coat tails signifying that he was the head servant flapping as he stepped briskly. Armenia for about ten minutes had no problem with this statement, then he looked up at the door. _Wait… that was in… 651… that was fourteen hundred years ago!_ He blinked once or twice, and stood up. _Was that a joke… or could Demetrius be… one of us?_

Russia stood at the military base, as they prepared to drive out to the border. He was on the back of an armored truck, holding his AK 47. The man behind him was on the spinning machine gun of the truck. He turned to the Colonel beside him. "You are ready, da?" The Colonel nodded, "Ivan, I was ready two weeks ago." They chuckled and turned as the convoy moved out to the border. Before they got to the guard, he sounded the alarm, just before a bullet shot through his chest. The Russian border guard grinned, his rifle smoking. "Got him a little late. Sorry, Ivan!" Russia waved his hand, and they went in to the Georgian base. Georgian soldiers shot from inside of buildings, but rockets fired and blew the buildings apart. Russia hopped out of the truck and moved forward with the Colonel, and together they pushed between the buildings' rubble and moved down the street of the base. They got down to the last building; Georgia's house. Russia turned to the Colonel. "Go back and lead your men, da? There is a matter I need to attend to." The Colonel nodded. "I've got to go and get that oil anyway." The Colonel ran back as a Georgian artillery shell whistled over their heads. Russia kicked down the door, and found himself with an automatic pointed straight at his face. "Mr. Braginski. Ms. Tsiklauri will not be seeing you today." The head servant stood in front of his face, his finger dancing on the trigger. "Don't think I won't do it, Ivan." Russia blinked, and laughed. "You think you can stop me? You are very foolish, da?" The servant laughed. "Maybe I am. But even fools can be brave." He swung a kick that collided with Russia's nose, and Russia spun, and landed on the ground. _He is very strong… surprisingly so._ Russia stood up again, to find the gun in his face a second time. "Turn around, Ivan. Your wrongs can be undone." Russia shook his head, and a bullet flew between them, and an explosion destroyed the building next to them. In that quick time, Russia knocked the gun out of the servant's hand, and pointed his own gun at him. "Not this time, Demetrius. You cannot save her, da?" Demetrius sighed, "Maybe not, but I can try." He grabbed Russia's arm, and tugged it, then when he was past him, he kicked him to the ground, and put his boot on Russia's back. A large group of soldiers were coming down the street, and he stomped on the back of Russia's head, knocking him out, and picked up Russia's gun. He turned to the soldiers, and lifted both his own gun and Russia's, and fired blindly into the soldiers, backing up as they came forward, and they quickly fell. When they were just in front of the house, he shouted, "Now!" Suddenly, out of the windows of the house, the barrels of shotguns and rifles came out, and the various servants of the house fired into the advancing Russian troops. The troops scrambled back, and Demetrius continued firing, bullets whizzing around him. Out the door came a few more people. Georgia ran out, a pistol in her hand, and she dove into the battle, firing into the soldiers. Armenia came shortly behind, his hood down, and a black shotgun with a red cross emblazoned on it was in his hand. He leapt adeptly into the combat, and when a soldier came to close, a small ornamental knife slashed through them. Sealand was in the window and had a handheld radio, and spoke into. "Okay, Raivis, we're ready down here." Suddenly, Latvia came around the corner of the street in a tank, and blasted the armored truck that was approaching steadily. It exploded in a ball of flame, and Latvia popped out of the top of the tank, and Latvia and Sealand gave each other a thumbs up, and Latvia descended again.

Georgia and Armenia moved in the direction of the main fortifications, where the most troops would likely be. The two of them, having arrived, slipped into the concrete building as artillery shells whirred out of it. They looked through the barred window, and watched as a jet plane landed in the landing strip beside the fort. They looked at each other, and ran back out, avoiding the bullets that flew by. By the time they arrived, the door of the plane was open, and America leapt out. "Alright guys, the hero's here! Wait… whose side are we on again?" He turned to Belarus who had also jumped out. She shook her head and looked at America incredulously. "Big brother's." She turned to Georgia, "What is going on?" Georgia looked back as a bullet flew by. "Big brother invaded and is trying to kill me!" She sniffled once, and suddenly there was a knife at her throat. "Then I am too." Armenia dove and tackled Belarus from her feet, pulling his own knife and pointing it at her face. "Tamar, get out of here! They'll kill you!" Canada, Estonia, Ukraine, and Lithuania had all also gotten off of the plane. Georgia stumbled back and ran, not questioning Armenia. There seemed to be hundreds of bullets whizzing their heat around her, many of them from America's and Canada's pistols. She ducked behind the nearest concrete barrier, meeting up with Demetrius and Sealand. Sealand looked at Georgia. "You didn't say anything about fighting AMERICA! What happened in between now and then?" Georgia shrugged, "Big sister must have called him..." Sealand swore, and turned with his rifle and shot over the barrier. Demetrius laid down overkill amounts of fire, mowing down anyone who came close enough to aim at. Georgia fired her pistol at different men, and they all fell behind the barrier when artillery fired at them. They would then get back up again and continue returning the heat. Meanwhile, Armenia had his hands completely full. He had since knocked Belarus in the nose with the hilt of the knife, and was face to face with America and Canada. Belarus had crept away, off to look for Russia. America raised the gun toward Armenia, and Armenia waved his hand, and both America's and Canada's guns went crashing away. Armenia glowered at them. "So you help the man that killed my brother. And you shall share his fate." Armenia spoke something quietly in Latin, and two long fire swords appeared in his hands. He spun, and swung at America, who barely leapt out of the way, and Canada did the same. Ukraine blocked the spinning with her pitchfork, but was kicked in the stomach with a flaming boot. Armenia's cloak had turned red, and looked very much like someone had lit it on fire. His eyes burned with the same passion, and his whole body seemed to boil under the heat of hatred. He was about to stab Ukraine through the stomach, when there was a tug on his hood, causing him to fall backwards. Canada stood in front of him, weaponless, but standing tall and unshaking. Armenia swung the swords at him madly, and he jumped back and forth, ducking, dodging, avoiding, and eventually kicked Armenia's legs out from under him. Armenia fell to the ground, but stabbed upward with the swords. Canada was about to jump down on him, but couldn't as the swords shot up. Armenia leapt to his feet, and swung at the cowering Lithuania and Estonia, getting Lithuania's shoulder, then the other. Then he turned his attention to Canada again. Canada ran over to Ukraine. "I'll give this back, I swear!" He grabbed the pitchfork, and she relinquished it. He ran over to Armenia, and they swung their weapons at the same time. The pitchfork blocked the pair of swords, and Armenia muttered something else, fusing the swords together into one large sword. He swung it, and Canada jumped back, and swung the pitchfork. It collided with a block from Armenia and they broke apart, staring each other down on the airstrip. Canada jumped forward, and wrenched the swords away with the points of the pitchfork. He then stabbed it around Armenia's neck, trapping him there, and shouted to America. "Toss me a gun." America didn't move. "A gun, dammit!" America moved quickly now, and tossed Canada the desired weapon. He knelt down next to Armenia, and pointed the gun to his temple. "Alright, kid. Show's over."

Belarus had snuck through the fight and reached the spot where Russia was beginning to get up. A bullet flew by her, which she dodged, and a grenade exploded nearby. She ran over to Russia, and grabbed his arm. "I was so worried about you, big brother! Are you alright? Here, let me look." She began to look over him, and he shoved her away, standing again. "Natalya, go away! I do not love you! I do not want you here! Go away, da?" Belarus froze. "W-what?" He turned to her, fury in his eyes. "I. Do. Not. Love. You. Are we clear? Da? Now go away." He stormed off in the direction of the fortifications, and she sank to her knees. _Nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet nyet! Big brother loves me… he loves me… I am dreaming…_ But no matter what she did, she would not wake up.

Latvia rolled down the street, firing the large guns on the tank into the crowds of Russian soldiers. He aimed carefully at other tanks, and armored vehicles. Toward the fortifications he made his way, being demolition for everything Russian that passed by him. He turned to one spot, to be frozen for a moment. There was a line of men, all with anti-tank launchers, and all pointed at him.

Georgia, Sealand, and Demetrius all sat behind the barrier, firing away at the advancing Russian soldiers. Just as they were all about to retreat, both Sealand and Demetrius fell in quick succession, knocked out on the ground, from blows to the head. Georgia turned around, and found herself looking at her big brother, a pistol's barrel right between her eyes.

* * *

My original intent was to make this two chapters, but I kind of got carried away, so you get a chapter and a half! The rest of the large battle will be in Chapter 12! Did I do well with epic? Please review and tell me so! And read and recommend! But yeah, I have little to say... except that Lithuania's shoulders have got to be in soooo muuuuch paaaaiiiin... Anyway, stay tuned, and 12 will be coming soon! Thanks!


	15. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Armenia tried desperately to struggle out of the pitchfork's trapping prongs, but they were stabbed deeply into the concrete. He swore under his breath, and stopped resisting. He breathed heavily, watching his chest rise and fall, feeling his heartbeat. He knew he had very little time left on this earth, and lifted a hand to examine the finger prints, how every one was unique, and how the cracks on his skin formed infinitely intricate patterns. Canada took no heed of these, and was still leaned down beside him. He could feel Canada's warm breath on his ear, and could feel the contrastingly cold barrel of the pistol jammed into his temple. Canada stood up, and pointed the gun to Armenia's forehead. "Any last wishes?" Armenia made a small nod. "Tell Georgia… tell Georgia I love her." Canada chuckled and nodded, "Alright, unless she's already shared the same fate." His finger lightly teased the trigger.

Georgia, though not having met the same fate, was very near to it. "R-Russia?" She stammered, looking up at the man she once loved as her brother. His face wore a cruel, sadistic smile. His finger was nearly pressing the trigger, and probably would have, if she had not opened her eyes so widely. Her bright, orange eyes pleaded up at him, begging to not meet that fate. He shook his head, answering the eyes. "R-Russia… I -love you… w-why do you hate me?" Russia blinked once or twice, and almost lowered the gun. Finally, he lifted it all the way back up to between her eyes, "Lies!" He snarled at her angrily. "You do not love me, da?" Suddenly, Russia gasped, and fell to his knees, clutching his chest. Georgia backed as close to the barrier as she could, terrified as Russia writhed on the ground, and eventually curled up in a ball, like he would block any pain he was feeling. But the pain obviously didn't stop. He jolted every second or so, the same reaction that would happen if someone had stabbed him. Then she remembered Armenia's curse. She wrapped her arms around her knees, watching in horror as Russia enacted the curse, even going so far as to crawl over to a clump of grass, grabbing it, and putting it in his mouth to chew. She crawled away, and when she reached the end of the concrete barrier, she ran off in the direction of the airfield to accomplish two things; to save Armenia, and to get that curse lifted.

Latvia knew he had about ten seconds before all the rockets were loaded and fired at him, and he used the first four of those ten to look around the tank for a machine gun. Sadly, he found none, and the next three seconds were spent in opening the hatch. The next second was starting to crawl out, the next second was coming out of the top, and the next lasted forever. The rockets seemed to fly in slow motion, coming closer and closer to the tank. Latvia seemed to move slower than he could but a second ago, and his leap from the tank seemed unrealistically long, dragging beyond comparison. He leapt towards a large concrete piece of rubble, landing just behind it when the rockets hit. The explosion sent shards of metal flying by him, and he could feel the heat, even from behind the thick rubble. He groped around for a weapon, and found a small pistol. He sat up and aimed the pistol over the rubble, shooting sporadically through the smoke, getting yelps of panic, but also some returned fire. A bullet grazed by his ear, and he ducked down, making a small noise of pain. Under the cover of smoke, he crept around behind the nearest building, and dashed forward, through the smoke, past the soldiers, and toward the fortifications, hoping to meet up with Sealand, Demetrius, Georgia, and Armenia.

Belarus remained on her knees, her face in her hands, now saying out loud, "Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet…" She shook her head and fell to her face, sobbing into the ground. She said, muffled, "Big brother loves me… he is just unhappy right now… da… he loves me…" The words echoed through her mind. _I. Do. Not. Love. You._ She sat up again and shook her head, arguing with the evidence in her mind. Her hand went to a knife, and she tugged it out, and looked at her reflection on the side of the blade. _What is wrong with me? Why does he not love me? Am I not beautiful?_ She looked up and realized something at that moment. _Whether or not he loves me… which he says he does not… people are dying. Too many people. Big brother has to be stopped before he hurts anyone else…_ She had no intention of hurting Russia, just to stop him. She grabbed a gun off of the nearest body, and ran back towards the airfield.

Georgia reached the airfield first, and stopped in her tracks, seeing Canada standing over Armenia with a gun pointed to him. She yelled, "Hey! Do not touch him!" She raised her gun and shot it into the air. Canada waved a hand and America walked over to her, picking up his gun again as he walked. She blinked. _I had not thought this far ahead…_ She pointed the gun at America, her arms shaking. "Take another step, and I will shoot you!" America stopped walking for a moment, then laughed and took another step. "The way your arm's shaking, you couldn't shoot me if I were right in front of you." Georgia swore madly, and decided it was time to do something radical. She tossed the gun up in the air, and quickly pulled out her metal rod. She jumped in the air, and flipped the switch from semi-automatic to automatic on her pistol, and jammed the rod through the trigger area, and yanked back. She spun the pistol around as it fired continuously, and America dropped to the ground. She landed on the ground, and took the pistol off of the rod, and tossed it. Out of ammo. She ran over to America, and as he was standing back up, she kicked him full in the shin, causing a howl, and she swung the rod into his side. He fell over, and as she came over to hit him again, he pointed the gun to her torso. She kicked it away thoughtlessly, and began to bring the rod down on his head. He caught it in one hand, and tossed her off, standing up again. She swung the rod at his leg, and he stumbled, and tried to kick at her. She dove between his legs, landing the tip of the rod to the square of his back, and he fell forward. She jumped onto his back, and began to pull the rod back against his throat. He fell to his knees, attempting to speak as she strangled the life from him. He fell forward, unconscious, and she turned, ready to run to Armenia.

Just as America was administered his knock-out, Latvia arrived at the airstrip. He came up behind the other Baltics, who tried to stop him. "Raivis! Please don't tell me you're helping her?" Lithuania pointed to Georgia, her orange scarf flapping in the bitter wind. Latvia nodded, and Lithuania and Estonia sighed. They simultaneously pointed their guns at him. "Sorry, Raivis… we don't want to do this… we really don't… but… under the circumstances…" Latvia shrugged. He looked like he was about to speak, and Lithuania and Estonia looked attentive. He then grabbed their guns and ripped them from their hands, throwing them away from the plane. "Are you insane? Mr. Russia is! He came in here with a full assault force with the sole intention of killing Georgia!" Lithuania and Estonia looked at each other, "But… isn't she going to shoot a rocket at him?" Latvia glared at them and yelled, "No, you idiots! She's not! You were about to shoot ME because of allegiance to BELARUS who has allegiance to RUSSIA?" Lithuania looked at Estonia, who looked at Lithuania. They looked back at Latvia. "Good point."

Belarus arrived just in time to see Canada kneeling down to place the barrel of the gun on Armenia's forehead. She swore under her breath. _Maybe I can save this one…_

Armenia watched Canada's eyes, his calm eyes. _How can someone's eyes be so calm when he's about to shoot me?_ He felt the cool barrel press against his forehead. _It's almost like it's come out of a refrigerator… is this what last thoughts are? Random grips on life, trying to take your mind off of the fact that you are about to die? How many people have died thinking that the weapon touching them was cold? I can only imagine… _He saw Canada's finger pulling down on the trigger, and he said prayerfully, "Father… I'm coming home." Georgia and Latvia looked up simultaneously, hearing the gunshot. Georgia sank to her knees, and put her head in her hands, sobbing bitterly. Latvia dropped to his knees on the other side of Armenia, and blinked once or twice. Lithuania and Estonia turned around in shock. Ukraine stood completely frozen. The shot echoed around the airfield, and the sound soon got carried away in the wind. Every other sound of battle seemed to fade. All the explosions, the mortars launched, the grenades crashed, the tank shells wrenched, the artillery whistled, the rifles coughed, the pistols spat, the machine guns whirred, the truck tires squealed, the rocks crumbled, the tank tracks hummed, the men yelled, the captains shouted, but nothing made sound. Everything surrounding Armenia was as serene as a flower, blooming quietly on the top of a snowy hill, placed beside a gravestone. Belarus stood, her gun smoking, not ten yards from Canada. Canada's gun was lying discarded, a bullet hole through its barrel, having been sent away by the force of the blast. Armenia breathed heavily, his eyes darting around for the source of his salvation. They rested on the woman he had just so recently given a bloody nose, standing, a rifle raised, her eye up to the scope. She lowered it now, and gave an odd smile, like one does after doing a satisfactory job of public service. Canada looked shocked, the whole ordeal seeming to have brought him back to normal. He stood up, and tugged hard on the pitchfork. It wouldn't come out. Armenia muttered something in Latin, and the pitchfork slowly lifted away and lay by his side. Georgia looked up again, and, seeing Armenia sitting up, she ran over to him and hugged him. "You are not dead!" He chuckled a little, "No… no, I'm not." Latvia ran over from the other side. "I thought for sure that you had a bullet in your head." Armenia shook his head. "No… I'm fine." Georgia quietly spoke, "Can you lift your curse from big brother?" Armenia looked thoughtful. "Well… I guess so. Why?" She frowned at him, "Because it's hurting him so much…" Armenia, seeming to have had all hatred removed from him from the previous near death experience, nodded. "Meus vomica est non orator." Canada went to wake up America. Belarus spoke loudly, "Until big brother is back to normal… we're changing allegiance." Georgia turned to her. "I know where he is!"

Russia suddenly stopped eating the grass he had been, and spat it out. _What had been happening?_ He looked around. _It was probably a curse from Georgia's friend… Armenia._ He looked down at the now stirring Sealand and Demetrius. _Where did Georgia go?_ He looked up over the barrier, and saw a large group of people running to him. There was Georgia… and his other sister. Hadn't he already told her to go away? Oh, and there was Armenia. And the Baltics. His other sister was there as well, and America and… Canada. So he was still alone. And outmatched. He smirked, and dropped the gun, and took out his pipe. They couldn't beat him now. Demetrius and Sealand stood up, and Sealand froze. Demetrius turned as the others ran up to the barrier. "Hello, Demetrius." Georgia hopped the barrier first, then came Armenia, and Latvia, then the other Baltics, and Belarus, and Ukraine, and the North Americans. Latvia stepped forward and spoke. "Russia, you need to stop." Russia laughed, and looked around at the assorted countries, and Demetrius. "And what if I say, 'nyet'?" Demetrius stepped forward. "Then we'll have to stop you." Russia laughed again, but Demetrius didn't see what was so funny. He dove forward, and his guns were discarded as he pulled out an Arabian scimitar, and swung it at Russia, who blocked the swing with his pipe. Demetrius continued swinging the blade, again and again being blocked by Russia. He eventually kicked Russia in the stomach, but Russia only made a small grunt and swung the pipe, and Demetrius back-flipped. Georgia leapt on to Russia's back, taking the rod and trying to strangle him with it. He flipped her forward, and was about to bring the pipe down on her head, when Armenia took his legs from under him with his Bible. Russia swung the pipe, and Armenia ducked it, so Russia stood again, and swung the pipe down. While the pipe was battling the Bible, Sealand grabbed onto Russia's leg. Russia kicked him off, but found that he needed to block a swing from a scimitar. He did, and was hit in the back with a Bible. He stumbled forward, to be hit in the nose by America, and crashed backward. He rolled, and grabbed America's leg. He tugged him down, and kicked him in the side of the head, then lifted him, and swung him into Demetrius, and they both fell backward. Belarus leapt forward, and twisted his arm, but he wrenched backward and threw her to the ground, bringing down the pipe, but that was intercepted by a pitchfork. Ukraine snarled at him, and he lifted the pipe to swing it horizontally at her. Canada caught the pipe in his hand, and found a booted foot in his stomach. Canada fell backwards, but got back up, tackling Russia down. Three guns were simultaneously pointed in his face, one from each Baltic. He kicked Canada off, and jumped up abruptly, swinging the pipe and colliding it with Lithuania's shoulder, and the long-haired Baltic crashed to the ground. Estonia quivered a bit, but raised his gun, which was knocked out of his hand with a pipe, and he was soon thrown to the ground groaning. Latvia and Sealand both attacked Russia from the front, hitting and scratching and biting, while Georgia and Armenia hit him from behind. He spun with the pipe, sending them all flying. Canada was next, the pipe colliding with his chin, sending him sprawling on his back. Belarus brought knives all around her, and Ukraine gripped tightly on her pitchfork. Russia spun the pipe like a baton, sending every knife that came flying at him sputtering away in every direction except at his shoulders, where they were aimed. He swung the pipe into her stomach, and she slumped to the ground, and he then whirled, hitting Ukraine in the side of the head, and she fell to the ground as well. He stood over the groaning or unconscious, happy with his work.

Turkey blinked and looked around, confused. He sat up, and heard a crack. He lifted his arm, and there was more cracking. He looked down, and saw that he was encased in a layer of ice. _What… where am I?_ He was on a metal table, which he slid off of, with more cracking. He opened the door, and heard the sound of fighting. _What…?_ He was still in Georgia's house, but the servants were all gone… out in the street… with guns? His confusion washed over him. He walked out into the street, and some of the servants looked at him, screamed, 'Ghost!' and ran. Now his confusion was total and complete. He came to a scene of fighting, where there were some Russian soldiers fighting some Georgian ones. _Wow… I've missed a lot…_ He avoided the battle, and wandered around the havoc-ridden base, until he came to the fortifications. There was Russia, standing over a large group of people, all knocked out. And Matthew was with them. He ran over quietly, and grabbed a rock.

Georgia looked up as Russia stood over her, lifting the pipe with a smile on his face. Suddenly, he collapsed. She was very confused, and then frightened, as the man who was dead then stood before her.

* * *

Guess what! This. Was a short chapter compared to the last one. Sorry if you didn't like it. But the question is... WTF ARE YOU DOING BACK ALIVE SADIK? Ahem. I had you all scared there with the Armenia thing, I know I did, so don't deny it, da? But yes, review, request, read, and recommend. Herp derp. The next chapter will be a Respite to Thought. I can't believe the story is getting so close to ending... *sigh*... Well, the cutesiness will be returned to you shortly. That way everyone can be happy.


	16. Respite to Thought Belarus

Respite to Thought: Belarus

_Big brother…_

_Why will you not just join me?_

_We can be one!_

_And we can be married!_

_That does sound nice, does it not?_

_Aren't I pretty?_

_If I am pretty, why do you not marry me?_

_Why did you yell at me, big brother?_

_We should talk about it later._

_I would like some more milk if that is okay._

_I will come by to say hello to you again, once you are all recovered._

_And maybe everyone can be happy._

_I can be happy._

_You can be happy again._

_Our little sister can be happy, and you will not be mad at her anymore._

_Our older sister can be happy, and have America's brother._

_The Baltics can be happy, because you will not be mad at them any longer._

_Da?_

_Does that not sound nice?_

_And, since it is almost Christmas, we can have a big party, with everyone._

_Or just you and I if you would like, big brother…_

_We have never had a party with everyone, have we?_

_Because Georgia was always a secret._

_And then when everyone else goes to bed, we can stay up, hm, big brother?_

_Sounds very good, da?_

_And then we can be married!_

_And you and I will be one!_

_But you are mad at me._

_How will I ask you for marriage when you are mad at me?_

_Maybe you are just mad because you are stressed._

_I can relieve your stress if you let me, big brother…_

_Please let me._

_Or at least let me back into your house._

_That would be enough._

_And maybe we can go back to the times when you were not afraid of me!_

_And we can sit at a table and talk again._

_And you can think of me!_

_And I will watch you and be happy!_

_And we can be happy together._

_And we can walk around in the snow!_

_And maybe…_

_Maybe you will hold me again._

_And keep me warm and safe in the snow._

_And I will wrap my arms around._

_Da!_

_That's what we will do!_

_And you will love me!_

_And you will marry me!_

_And you will kiss me, and I will kiss you…_

_And we can be one…_

_Da!_

_We will love each other forever._

_And ever._

_And ever._

_But, big brother, Georgia told me something when we were coming to make sure you didn't hurt anyone._

_I cannot tell you what she told me._

_But I wish I could._

_Because it would make you happy._

_And I think I have a plan to make everything better._

_So that you will love me._

_And that Georgia will be happy._

_And we will all have happy lives._

_Da._

_That is what we will have._

_So that is what we should do._

_I will start my plan as soon as Georgia's house is cleaned up._

_And then I will make you love me, and accept Georgia._

_I like this plan._

* * *

Belarus... that's not creepy at all... *ahem*... Okay. Anywho, it's my birthday, so you should review and give me a present! Yep. Sound good? Da! If you review... Georgia will thank you in her next letter to the readers? Yes! Georgia will thank you in her next letter to the readers. If you review this chapter. And don't forget to request! Okay, done rambling again. Until Chapter 13 is up, so long, and have an AWESOME April 19th! (Or if it's not April 19th when you read this, just have a nice day)


	17. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Georgia sat stunned as Russia crumpled to the ground, watching Turkey stand behind him with a rock. "S-Sadik… i-is t-that y-you?" She stammered every syllable, and crawled backwards a little. "Y-you a-are n-not d-dead?" Again she stammered, trying to comprehend the scene before her. "No… why would you think I was dead? I'm standing aren't I?" Georgia turned white, "B-because y-you h-have b-been d-dead f-for t-two w-weeks…" It was Turkey's turn to turn pale, "What?" Georgia tried to pull a hold on herself, "Y-you w-were d-dead… R-Russia k-killed y-you…" Turkey looked like he had a flashback, and looked down at Russia. "I was… dead?" Georgia nodded, and tried to stand up. Armenia was the next to notice Turkey. He quickly got over his shock and ran over to his brother, throwing his arms around his waist. "Sadik! You're alive!" Turkey chuckled a little, "Yes, I think we've established this." One arm went around the small boy's back, and Armenia stood there for a while, crying into his brother's jacket. "I'm so happy you're alive, Sadik…" Turkey chuckled again, "So am I, Matthew." Sealand was about to say something, but Latvia covered his mouth. Everyone was coming to, and there were varied reactions. Those who had been unaware of Turkey's death were surprised to hear of it, naturally, and were even more surprised, then, to see him walking around. Georgia pulled Armenia aside. "Why is Sadik alive again?" Armenia thought for a little while. "Why did Ivan's curse begin just now?" They sat in silence for a moment, thinking. "Maybe… maybe the more powerful the thing I say in Latin, the more time it takes to happen." Georgia thought for a moment. "But all your other curses worked immediately…" Armenia shrugged, "Most of my curses don't involve turning my enemies into mindless grass-eaters." Georgia shrugged and nodded simultaneously, "That is a very good point." Belarus stood up and looked around at everyone. "Um… If I could have you all listen for a minute…" Everyone turned to the normally very direct Belarus. "We've all…" She tried to place the words correctly in her head, and they came out silly-sounding to her ears, "We've all had a pretty rough day… group of days… but I think I know a way we can fix everything…"

They had all gathered back at Georgia's house, the only building that had managed to survive the invasion. The battle was beginning to dwindle down, and the servants were waiting for Demetrius' return. When they saw him return with the dead man, and some people who had previously been labeled as enemies, their guns were immediately raised. Demetrius shook his head, and the guns all went back down again. Demetrius had his automatic on his shoulder, the AK dangling down at his side. He looked like a man who had done this for more than the years he appeared to have been alive. Armenia promised himself to ask him about it later. But now, there was a battle to finish. They all had their guns again, and they made their way down to the oil field. If there was one place that the enemy would be, it was there. When they arrived, they proved themselves right. The place was swarming with trucks carrying the oil away. All the guards lay dead on the ground, and Georgia shook with fury. _And he was worried about me killing his people…_ She immediately cocked her pistol, and almost ran forward to fire a shot. Armenia's hand caught her arm. "Wait, Tamar. We have to be coordinated." Sealand immediately broke this rule by running out from their cover, and landing a bullet through the windshield of a truck, getting a blood splat on the broken glass. Georgia smirked at Armenia, "You were saying?" She ran out behind Sealand, and soon the entrance to the oil yard was blocked with driverless trucks. They climbed over the trucks, and everyone met on the other side. Demetrius pointed in various directions after pointing at various people. It was time to split up. The servants leaned against the trucks, shotguns and rifles ready in case anyone tried to escape. Georgia, Sealand, Lithuania and Latvia all went around the exterior of the building to the right. Turkey, Armenia, Estonia and Demetrius went around the left. Inside the building went Canada, America, Belarus and Ukraine.

On the right side, a machine gun had been set up, which prevented the four on that side from continuing. They hid behind a large oil drum as bullets showered around them. "How are we supposed to get through?" Georgia looked flustered. "The machine gun won't kill us! We're countries anyway!" Latvia almost stood up, but was yanked down again by Georgia. "Even if they will not kill us, it will hurt like hell." Latvia frowned. "I suppose you're right…" He was hit on the back of the head by Sealand. "Of course she's right you buffoon!" Latvia looked dejected for a moment, and Lithuania stuck his head around the side of the drum to check something. "They reload every six hundred rounds." They all looked at him. "How on earth do you know that?" Georgia looked at him skeptically. "I counted the bullets on a strip that they haven't used. They wrapped it so that there were one hundred bullets on every row, and there are six rows." Latvia shrugged, "And that helps us… how?" Georgia looked straight at Lithuania. "Do you know its rate of fire?" Latvia would simply not be ignored, "Guys, I don't see how this is helping us." Lithuania nodded, "It shoots twenty five bullets in a second." Latvia pounded on the drum, "How is this going to get us past the machine gun?" Sealand looked at Lithuania, "And… that would mean… that from the beginning of a round… there are exactly twenty-four seconds before they reload…" Latvia stomped on the ground, "This is not useful!" Georgia looked between Sealand and Lithuania, "If we count twenty-four seconds…" Lithuania finished, "We can jump up when they're reloading and have the maximum time to shoot them all." Latvia stopped. "Oh… that is useful." After the next brief reload, they all counted together. "Twenty four… twenty three… twenty two… twenty one…" A bullet scraped over the top of the drum. "Twenty… nineteen… eighteen… seventeen… sixteen…" Some sparks were created by a bullet scraping the side. "Fifteen… fourteen… thirteen… twelve… eleven…" A light fixture nearby shattered and they ducked the glass, still counting. "Ten… nine… eight… seven…" The oil drum was finally pierced by a bullet, and oil spewed from the other side. "Six… five… four…" A bullet came through the other side, bursting between Georgia and Lithuania. "Three…" Another bullet came through. "Two…" Six bullets now made it through. "One…" The last bullets flew dangerously close to the people behind the barrel. "Go!" They all jumped up, pistols raised, and shot the loader, the gunner, two other men who were loading a truck behind them, and, with another pull of the trigger, the men in the truck. The four ran forward, jumping the sandbags the gun was placed on. They jumped into the back of the truck, hiding behind already loaded barrels of oil, and shot at the other men with deadly accuracy. There was little fire returned, and the skirmish was quickly over.

On the left side of the building, there were a few armored vehicles standing in the way of the four. Turkey cocked a rifle, Estonia remembered the safety on his pistol, Demetrius smirked, his weapons having long been ready, and Armenia brought forth his shotgun in a small flash of light. All the turrets on the armored vehicles pointed to them, and they readied for the worst. Demetrius did a side flip over a stream of bullets, sweeping the area with his own spray. Turkey dove under the nearest armored vehicle, took out a sticky bomb from seemingly nowhere, and placed it on the bottom, rolling out and diving away as it exploded into hundreds of pieces. Estonia planted a few sure shots into the drivers of oil trucks past the armored vehicles, and ran forward to hide behind the exploded vehicle. Armenia leapt on top of one vehicle, opening the top of it, and pointing his shotgun down. He pulled the trigger, and there was a grunt from the inside of it. "Borrowing this!" Armenia hopped into the vehicle, and turned it towards another, and looked around. "Hmmm… I wonder what this button does." He pressed the button, and a jet of flame erupted from the front of the metal hull, sending a few Russian soldiers screaming away, their bodies burning. Sadly, the vehicle in front of him was not destroyed. He looked around. "Here's another promising button…" He pressed that one, and missiles flew up and hit the supports for a large oil drum, and the drum came crashing down, and rolled around on the ground, crushing a few soldiers. "Nope. Let's try… this one!" He hit another button, and a flare shot straight up. "That wasn't even helpful… hmmm… Green means go, right? Let's try that one!" He did, and two turrets on the front of the vehicle rose up, and sputtered off shots in random directions, sending soldiers running all over the place. But still his target wasn't gone yet. "Well… I know you're never supposed to press the big red button… but…" He pressed it, and a little white flag popped up on the front of the metal vehicle, and began to wave around. "That… was both anticlimactic and incredibly unreasonable. What about… the one that says 'Do not press in any situation'… what the…? Why would you make a button that you weren't supposed to press? That just doesn't seem intelligent." He pressed the button, and a massive rocket was brought out of the back of the vehicle. It rose up and pointed directly in front of him, and he watched, since he hadn't closed the hatch, as it fired forward. He looked into the little screen that showed him everything in front of the metal beast, but he couldn't see anything but the little white flag. He stuck his head out the top of the hatch, and immediately ducked back down, shutting the hatch. And for good reason. The rocket had detonated on the vehicle in front of him, and the vehicle exploded into thousands of shards, and the explosion simply spread, sending the vehicle he was in sliding back at an unreasonable speed, and when the deafening noise of the explosion was gone, he looked through the screen in the middle, and the flag was nothing but a small stick waving about now. He opened the top hatch, without touching it, since it was glowing hot, and leapt out, adeptly avoiding any and all metal. Turkey stood behind another vehicle, blinking. Demetrius was flat up against the wall of the building, his hair a little singed. Estonia was cowering behind a dead man's body, his hands over the back of his neck, and his body tucked in under itself for maximum protection. Armenia laughed, and so did Turkey and Demetrius. Their work was done.

Inside the building, America, Canada, Ukraine and Belarus all crept quietly through the hallways. They could hear the soldiers in the main room, rolling oil drums out through a hatch onto trucks in the back of the facility. America, Canada, and Ukraine all loaded pistols, while Belarus loaded the rifle she had taken. They all nodded to each other, and America kicked the large door open. They were met with general surprise, and a rain of gunshots. They hid behind the door posts, then turned and shot once or twice, pulled back, and repeated. After a while, they had cleared the room of Russians. The group all met up again at the front of the facility. "We are all clear?" Belarus looked between all the various groups, and they all nodded. "Excellent." They all went back to Georgia's house to prepare for the next task at hand.

* * *

I apologize for the briefness, and I apologize for the rushedness of the last paragraph. I got 0 reviews for my birthday (T-T) But that's okay, because you'll all review this chapter, da? And it is still wednesday in Hawai'i, so I haven't failed in every day updates recently!


	18. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Russia stumbled across the border with the remainder of his defeated troops, head hung from humiliation. They returned to the military base, and Russia looked around for the colonel. No colonel. He looked around for any sign of the colonel once everyone had returned. Still no colonel. He sighed, knowing he had just led his troops to a fruitless defeat. Maybe he shouldn't be so mad at Georgia… but she was about to shoot him wasn't she? _Well, she had confirmed it, da? Nyet… she just sat silently… Maybe she is not going to hurt me at all, da? That could prove that I am nothing but bad… _He frowned, thinking maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Belarus, Ukraine, America, Canada, Sealand, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Demetrius all sat around the table in Georgia's kitchen. "So are we ready?" Georgia looked around at everyone. "It sounds like a good plan to me." America nodded assent, to be hit on the back of the head by Belarus, who was sitting next to him. "Of course it sounds good to YOU. It was more intelligent than yours would have been, and sounds amazing to you." America rubbed the back of his head, "Dude… ow…" Canada gave a small chuckle and his arm around Ukraine's shoulders tightened a little. She giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder. Armenia spoke flatly, "What if he doesn't let us in? I wouldn't put it past him. We just decisively defeated him and sent his soldiers trudging home." Turkey tapped the table with his fingers. "He's right. How do we know he'll accept the whole thing?" Ukraine spoke quietly from Canada's shoulder, "Vanya will accept a Christmas party. He would not know what to do with a Christmas without his sisters." Sealand spoke loudly, "But who's to say he'll let the rest of us in?" Latvia looked straight at him, "If he doesn't, he'd have to deal with you outside." Everyone agreed. Lithuania stretched, "So we're ready to start planning the details?" Estonia nods, "It would seem so." Demetrius had been sitting silently in his seat up until this point. "Everyone understands how dangerous this is, yes?" Everyone looked at him. "What do you mean?" America blinked. "He's angry, unsatisfied, and scared. We're entering the home of a cornered animal. It's fight or flight. And knowing Ivan, it'll be fight." They all looked at each other. After a little while, they all agreed that care had to be taken. And so they began the elaborate planning of Christmas.

The day before Christmas, Russia was sitting at his desk with some paperwork from his boss. He had a bottle of vodka off to the side, still half full, surrounded by the clutter of bottles from the last month or so. He had hardly left his room, and no one had come home. Georgia had not stopped by for a visit, but he couldn't blame her for that. The Baltics hadn't returned, and so he had to do more work himself than usual. Belarus hadn't even showed up with marriage papers and clawed at his door. For some strange reason, there was a small part of him that missed her tearing on the door. The larger portion was glad and felt free. Ukraine hadn't called him once about anything, let alone dropped by. He was, for all practical purposes, alone. There was a knock at the door of the house, and he called to a servant to open it. He heard the door open, and he heard a young female voice say, "I have come to see Ivan." His head jetted up from the paperwork, and he looked at the door to his hallway. He stood up, and wandered over to the doorway. After opening it and sticking his head out, he saw a small, pigtailed, heavy coated, orange scarfed, orange eyed, girl looking up at him. She nodded politely to him. "Hello, Ivan." She let herself in, the servant wandering to do something else. Armenia silently slipped in behind her, and leaned against the wall. Strangely, right behind him, came in Turkey. Russia blinked twice. There wasn't a drop of blood across his chest. He had left him bleeding on the ground… he should be dead. He shook his head and watched as still more people streamed in. The Baltics, the North America twins, Sealand, and his sisters… _I told Belarus not to come back, da? What is she doing here… Then again… when has that ever stopped her before?_ Georgia pulled his sleeve to get his attention. "We have come for Christmas, Ivan." She was holding a small wrapped gift, Latvia a large black box, and Belarus her own box. Everyone had some sort of gift. He looked down at her, "Okay… you know that Christmas is tomorrow, da?" Georgia nodded, "I understand. We want to begin things today." She made a polite smile at him, and walked past him to the kitchen. Her servant finally came in, and followed her. Russia blinked and watched, then turned, expecting Belarus to dive for him and flower him with marriage suggestions. But no such flowering came. She walked by and politely nodded, going into the back porch with Latvia and Ukraine. Lithuania and Estonia wandered by with Sealand, to the room with the fireplace. Armenia followed, and said something in Latin. Turkey was right behind, his sword out and sharp. Russia almost panicked for a moment, but Turkey smiled at him and went into the room. Russia stuck his head in, and saw Armenia still speaking Latin, decorations around the room, and a fire beginning to start up, the licking tongues of flame dancing over the stones that built the fireplace. Russia blinked, and went back to his office. He needed to finish his paperwork.

In about two hours, the paperwork was done, and Russia stepped into the hallway, looking back and forth. He stepped into the fireplace room, and saw a fairly large amount of wrapped gifts cluttering the room. Then he saw something he had never before seen. Armenia's cloak was lying beside him as he kneeled in front of the fire. He had a very thin, hand-stitched white shirt on, and hand-stitched pants that were a little too small. He had discarded a pair of sandals, and his feet were completely bare, small and rough in the firelight. His head was bowed, and his brown, wiry hair hung like chords on a chandelier, masking his face as if he were hiding. His hands were placed together, all the fingers pointing diagonally upward, each finger touching its partner on the other hand. Russia stepped back silently, in an attempt to leave him undisturbed. "Dear Father, I want to ask something of You. I want to pray for Ivan. He needs it. After all the stress he's been put through, I want to give him a day or two where he can just relax. Give him a good Christmas, Father. And use me in any way necessary to accomplish that. And I'd also like to pray for Tamar. I was hoping that You could help Tamar in her troubled times right now. I know I've been asking You for this probably four or five times a day, but tomorrow especially. And I pray for Belarus, that, although I may not agree with the morality behind it, that You would make it possible for her to be happy with Ivan. And for Canada and Ukraine, that You bless them. And for Raivis and Peter, that they continue to be a blessing to Georgia. And for Lithuania and Estonia, that they are able to utilize their skills to help the rest of the world, like they did when looking for Raivis. And for America, that You show him a path that will keep him aiding Your children around the world. And… finally… I want to pray for my brother. Sadik may not be a very good brother, but he's got a good heart. He means well, and I know that You know that. I just want him to be happy, no matter what. Even if that means making him dinner every once and a while. Amen." Russia continued watching silently from around the corner, and was surprised at the next thing he did. He looked up, and lowered his hands, putting them in his lap, like he was listening to someone. He would nod every once and a while, and Russia thought he heard a small giggle from the young looking boy once or twice. Russia then watched as Armenia hugged nothing, and put his cloak and sandals back on, tying the rope belt. Russia turned to leave, and found himself looking down at Georgia, who put a finger over her lips. She whispered nearly silently, "Shhh. He does not know anyone listens. Even though everyone around does. If you are going to leave, you had better do it quickly." She walked past him and into the room, and greeted Armenia, beginning a conversation. Russia shook his head and began to wander the house. The night was falling, and Christmas Eve was on its way.

The next evening at around five o'clock, everyone met in the fireplace room, and found somewhere to sit, be it floor, chair, or wall. Russia half expected Georgia to come sit on his lap, or Belarus to sit in the chair beside him, but neither happened. Both stood as far away from him as was possible in the room, in far corners. _I suppose it is to be expected that neither of them pay much attention to me anymore, da? Why should they? I shattered both of their lives. _He tried to imagine him again sitting with Georgia on his lap, leaning her head against him… and then, Belarus came into the image. She sat beside him, and took one of his hands with hers. He smiled at her- _What? What am I doing?_ He tried to dismiss the thought, but it would not leave. He looked over at Belarus, who was looking at a gift disinterestedly. He watched her for a little while, and they all waited for something to happen. No one spoke. After a while, Demetrius stuck his head in the room. "Dinner is ready, if you would all like to join us in the dining room." They all followed, taking seats around the table. Demetrius came out with a wonderful looking turkey, and placed it in the middle of the table. America beamed, "I got that here. It was all me. Me." There was a thud as Belarus hit America in the back of the head, and he rubbed it, "Ow…" Canada chuckled, and Armenia smirked. Everyone looked at the turkey, realizing that no one had been chosen to cut it. Armenia, having his hood off to eat, rolled his brown eyes and spoke something quietly in Latin. The turkey was cut, and on everyone's plates. They ate, and more and more courses were brought out, until everyone was stuffed. Everyone then went to different places, an elaborate plan beginning to set itself in motion.

Shortly after dinner, Armenia put his hand on Turkey's shoulder, who was leaning back in his chair, beginning to doze. He woke up at the touch of the hand, and looked up at him. "Oh hey, Matthew." He smiled at his brother. For once, Armenia smiled back. "I've got something for you, Sadik. Follow me." Turkey stood up, a little confused, and followed Armenia into the kitchen. Armenia turned and grinned, pointing to a bowl of ashure sitting on the countertop. Turkey chuckled, and took the bowl, and began to eat. "Thank you, Matthew." Armenia grinned at him, "I forgive you, Sadik. For World War One. So let's put it behind us. Still brothers, and we always well be." Turkey put down the ashure. "Always." Armenia smiled and Turkey opened his arms. Armenia hugged him, and Turkey put his arms around the cloaked child. "And no matter how much stuff I do, I'll always be here." Turkey whispered to him. "And no matter how much I dislike you, I'll always love you." Armenia whispered right back. They let go of each other. Armenia put his hood back on and looked up at Turkey, "But now we have a box to set up." Turkey nodded, "Let's get going." They snuck out the back door of the house, to the black box in the middle of the yard.

Everyone else was sitting in the main room, talking away and drinking happily. America was doing something utterly stupid, and people were laughing at that. Ukraine sat on Canada's lap, as they both sipped from glasses and watched America, chuckling quietly. Georgia sat by Belarus, who was glaring at America. Latvia and Sealand were chatting away, while Estonia and Lithuania were also laughing at America. Russia had a bottle of vodka in his hand, and was also enjoying the idiocy of America. Demetrius would occasionally bring out more drinks, but mostly sat on a chair by the door. Armenia and Turkey worked diligently, and eventually finished. They both went back to the main room afterwards, and Armenia whispered in Georgia's ear. She stood up and walked over to Russia. "Ivan, will you come outside with me?" Russia looked down at his small sister, and smiled at her. "Da. I will." He stood up, and let her lead him by the hand out his back door. _She is treating me a little bit like a brother again… I suppose I am just making it a bigger deal than it is, da?_ He sighed quietly, and she led him to a seat. The sky had gone dark, and stars were beginning to be visible. She sat next to him on the seat. Armenia smirked from around the corner of the house. _My turn._ He spoke quietly in Latin. "Flammus." The fuse on the bottom part of the box lit, and he hid again. Russia's attention was immediately brought to the box, and he initially panicked. _She is going to blow me up! I knew it!_ But he was proven incredibly wrong before he could stand up, as a line of light shot into the sky, and exploded in a flash of pretty sparks. He looked up at them with wonder. _She has brought me fireworks…_ Another line, a different color. They continued flying up, and becoming more and more, all shooting out of the box. _That is why she wanted the cell… she was making fireworks…_ One very large line, which ended in a pink explosion. The sparks flew out, ending in a heart shape. And another three lines, which made a snowman. By now, everyone who had been in the house had ran out and was watching, mystified and amazed. She turned to him partway through the display. "Um… I was wondering… if it would be alright… if I called you big brother again…" He smiled down at her. "Da, Tamar… I think that would be excellent."

* * *

This is the second to last chapter of plot! (There are two chapters after without) Next chapter will tie up all, I mean all, loose ends. Everyone who reviews will get to hug a person of their specification! If you want to hug, say, Russia, then you can tell me that, and I will let you! Or Armenia, or Georgia... or anyone in this story. I will wait until the last chapter for the hugs to take place, so you have some time. BUT DON'T WAIT. HUG SOMEONE! ALMOST EVERYONE NEEDS A HUG. Okay, I'm done.


	19. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Russia looked up again as another firework flashed brightly. It was really a beautiful firework. _I still cannot believe that Tamar was doing this this whole time, and I was so mad at her…_ He looked down again at the small girl, her orange eyes glittering the reflection of the red firework, her face illuminated in a red wash that almost looked like a blush, and her blonde hair seemed to glow, like a soft and comforting flame. He looked over at his sisters. Ukraine sat hand in hand with Canada and both of them looked with small smiles on their faces between each other and the fireworks. Belarus sat alone, glum-looking. Her platinum hair reflected even more than Georgia's, looking like a lonely candle in the middle of the darkness, illuminating just a small area around itself, wanting to be lifted and carried to light a lamp that could pierce the night. Her eyes had a dull star-like quality, like the real stars had been hidden behind a sheet of colored glass, and only their faded images could be seen. He thought for a moment, _She is so pretty… and she looks so lonely, da? Someone should talk to her… Tamar will not mind if I stand up, da?_ He stood up, and Georgia looked up at him. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back, looking back at the fireworks. He walked slowly over to Belarus, and sat down beside her. She didn't look at him. He made a small frown, his legs dangling off of the edge of the porch she was sitting on. His hand found its way to hers, which was lying softly beside her. She started, and turned to him. "Are you okay, Natalya?" She looked back up at the fireworks, making no visible emotion appear, "I am fine." He sighed, "I do not believe that, and neither do you, da? I know that it is my fault, and I want to say that I am sorry." She looked at him, and blinked. "I was just angry, da? At myself, really… Will you forgive me?" She nodded slowly, and tangled her fingers through his. "Da… how could I not?" She smiled slightly, and continued watching him. _That feeling I get from her fingers… it is… I like it, da? _She seemed to notice this, and her smile grew a little more. She leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed a little and looked back up at the fireworks, and so did she. "Big brother… this may be a little early, but… will you marry me?" He shoved aside the instinct to run away, and turned to her again, smiling. "We will see, da?" She turned to him with a large grin, "So that is a maybe?" He nodded, and her grin got even larger. He watched her grin for a while, even as she looked up at the fireworks again. After a while of staring, he let go of her hand. She turned to him, her brows furrowed, a little confused. He put one arm around her shoulders, the other around her stomach and latched on her hip, and pulled her to him, kissing her gently. She was surprised at first, but the surprise quickly gave way to joy, and her eyes slipped shut, and her arms wrapped around his neck gently but stiffly, so as not to let him get away. But he had no intention of getting away. Georgia took her hand out from under her scarf, and uncrossed her fingers, grinning. Lithuania averted his eyes completely, looking up at the fireworks. Canada looked at Ukraine, "K-Katya…" She looked at him attentively, "Yes, Mattie?" He muttered something quietly, and she leaned forward, until their faces were an inch or two apart. "What was that?" "K-Katya… I… I…" She waited patiently, while he tried to speak, "I… I l-love you, K-Katya…" He gave her a small smile, and she gave him a huge one. "I love you too, Mattie." She threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him, and his arms went around her back, as he returned the kiss. When the kiss was over, they looked at each other happily. "Thank you." She smiled at him, her eyes glittering. "F-for what K-Katya…?" She giggled slightly, and kissed him briefly, "For confirming what I was worried about." Canada frowned a little, and blinked, "W-why were you so w-worried?" She shrugged, "I don't know… but it doesn't matter anymore." She put her head on his shoulder, and turned back to watch the fireworks. He smiled as her hair pooled around his shoulder, most of it running smoothly down part of his back. He leaned his head on hers, and looked up at the fireworks. At this same time, Armenia leaned against the wall, and watched the fireworks explode in their colorful lights. There was a tap on his shoulder, and there stood his brother behind him, a smile on his face. Armenia gave the smallest of smiles, and turned back to watch the fireworks. Turkey leaned against the wall right behind Armenia, on the side of the house, and Armenia began to speak, "They're very pretty." Turkey chuckled, "Yes. They are quite pretty." Armenia turned back to him, "I wonder… I've never really done anything with my hands… I can just ask and it will be given to me… could you…" Turkey smiled, "I will help you build something if you'd like." Armenia nodded, "Yes… yes please. I would very much enjoy that." They were silent for a little while, and then Turkey spoke up, "If I may ask, why is that?" Armenia didn't turn to him this time, "I'm sitting here, watching these fireworks, knowing that they were built by hand… and they're so very pretty. I would very much like to make something like that some time… if you'll help me, that is." Turkey chuckled quietly, "Of course I'll help." They continued watching the fireworks. While those fireworks went on, Latvia sat, his feet dangling, and his hands leaning him against the deck. Sealand was sitting beside him, his eyes alight with the glow of the explosives. He turned to Latvia with a grin on his face. "I'm glad you didn't drag me to the Caspian Sea… then I wouldn't have been able to see this." He looked back up, the grin waning into an innocent smile. Latvia giggled slightly, "Or have built it." "That's true, we did build it, didn't we."

"Mhm."

"Wow, we're good, aren't we, Raivis?"

"It would seem that way."

Sealand giggled, "Yes! Yes it would." The giggle was quickly drowned by the high-pitched whir of a firework, which blasted into an orange circle. Estonia wandered over to them, and sat beside Latvia, "I'm sorry for discouraging you about Georgia… she wasn't so bad after all…" Latvia smiled at him, "It's okay." Estonia looked at the snowy ground in front of him, "And for running away when you guys needed help… and for hiding when people depended on me…" Latvia shook his head, "Shush. You're fine." Estonia put his arm around his surrogate brother, and smiled at him, "Thanks, Raivis." Latvia put his head on Estonia's shoulder, "You're welcome, Eduard." They watched the fireworks for a while, and Lithuania soon sat to the right of Estonia. "Hey guys…" They looked at him, and Estonia spoke up, "Hi, Toris. How're your shoulders doing?" He looked at them, directly the opposite direction from Belarus and Russia, and shook his head, "Not particularly well… but they'll heal. Hopefully quickly." Estonia nodded, "Understandable." They all looked up at the fireworks again, and were about to get lost in the display, when suddenly, abruptly, there was a small girl in Lithuania's lap. She had an orange scarf, orange eyes, a small coat, and two tails in her hair. He winced, his shoulders being jolted, and looked down at her. She smiled at him with nothing but affection, and spoke softly, "Hi uncle Toris." He blinked at her, "What?" She giggled, "Hi. Uncle. Toris." He blinked once more. "I'm not your uncle… in any way, shape, or form…" She gave him a frown, and spoke with a conversation ending tone, "Uncle Toris." Lithuania moved his hands gently to envelop her, and she leaned against him with a smile. "Thank you uncle Toris." He looked down at her again, "What for?" She grinned up at him happily, "For saving us when we were behind that barrel." He chuckled slightly, "You couldn't done it without me…" She shook her head, and again, stated flatly, "Thank you for saving me." _It's impossible to argue with this girl… but why should I argue? It's not like she's accusing me of anything…_ She leaned against him fully again, and they watched the fireworks. Just a few feet away, Canada's attention somehow wandered to Armenia, leaning against the side of the house. He unattached himself from Ukraine, and looked down to her, smiling softly, as she looked at him, confused. "I-I'll be r-right back…" He stood up and walked softly over to the small boy. "H-hey, Armenia…" Armenia looked up at him, arms folded, "Yes?" Canada looked down at the ground, "I-I'm sorry a-about earlier w-when I almost…" He trailed off and blushed, watching the ground interestedly. Armenia's small hand was holding on to Canada's arm, then, and he spoke softly. "And I forgave you the moment the pitchfork was away from my neck." Canada looked up at him, blushing profusely, "R-really?" Armenia nodded slowly, his hood still covering his face, "Really." He hugged the larger man gently. "Just try to be careful with sharp objects; you could knock someone's head off." Canada chuckled softly, "I-I'll remember that…" Armenia let go of the hug, and leaned back against the wall, and Canada waved a small goodbye, going back to Ukraine. At the same time, Turkey could feel a cold creeping up the hairs on the back of his neck. He spun around, his sword drawn, to see a ghost-like character before him, glittering slightly against the snow. General Winter gave him a cold smile, and put a finger over his lips, adjusting his helmet. "Ivan and his family have missed me, I'm sure." The ice climbed up the wall around him. Turkey nodded, and turned back around, the large man gliding by him, and Armenia pinned himself against the wall in silent surprise. General Winter came behind Russia and Belarus, who turned around simultaneously at the feeling of imminent freezing they got. Russia gave a courteous nod, "Hello, General." The addressed smiled smugly and nodded back, "Hello, Ivan. Hello, Natalya." Belarus nodded slightly. Ukraine turned around, and dislodged from Canada, apologized for it, and ran over to General Winter, throwing her arms around him. If he were any smaller, she would have knocked him over, and had his face squished. But he was not smaller, and held his space well, and soon she was forced to let go by the sheer temperature of him. "General Winter!" She smiled at him, "We haven't seen you for a year!" The General nodded, and smiled at her, "It's great to see you too, Katyusha." Georgia by this point had gotten up off of Lithuania's lap, and was standing before the large man, who held himself so straight and strong. "Mr. Winter?" She looked at him with her large, round orange eyes. He knelt down, to look at her more closely, "Eh?" She wrapped her arms around his neck, "Bring more snow next year." She shut her eyes, and he stood, lifting her up. She squealed in delight, and waved her arms about as he held her up in the air, then put her back down. "I will do my best." She grinned at him, and then looked at her three siblings, and couldn't decide who to hug. She took the nearest pair of legs and hips; Natalya. Belarus froze for a moment, then put her hand on Georgia's head gently, and found the small girl's head buried further into her dress. "It'swarm" was the only muttering from Georgia. While Russia and his sisters sat down with General Winter, and together spoke and grew close again, a so far unmentioned figure leaned against the wall beside the door. Demetrius watched the fireworks silently, and smirked at the beautiful displays. There was soon a tug on his sleeve, and he looked down to see Armenia's face turned up at him. "Demetrius… who are you? Who are you really? And don't say that you are 'Ms. Tsiklauri's humble servant'. You are someone very old. Just who are you?" Demetrius was silent for a moment, then looked back up at the fireworks, "That is a story for another day. I promise, though, I shall tell it to you. For now, Ms. Tsiklauri is busy, and therefore my work is not done. Remind me some other time, and I shall hold my promise true." He continued watching the fireworks, with a glint of memory in his eye. Lastly, America stood alone, looking at everyone else. _This has been a success… a great success! All the conflicts got squared away nicely, and everything! The best kind of happy ending. The one where I'm the hero. Since I did, after all, answer Belarus' call for help…_ His thoughts droned on, and he continued watching all the other subjects of the party.

Russia sat with Belarus beside him and Georgia in his lap, and Ukraine sat on the other side of Belarus. They watched as the last firework exploded in a massive shower of color, and then looked at each other. Georgia looked up at everyone with a huge grin on her face. "We're all together now!" They all smiled down at her. For, she was right, so they were.

* * *

This is quite late. I apologize for the lateness. But, hugs are still open for the last chapter. WHO WANTS TO HUG WHO? Comeon, you know you wanna hug someone! Again, sorry for the lateness, and I hope you find that I rounded everything off nicely. Sorry if I didn't.


	20. Respite to Thought Armenia

Respite to Thought: Armenia

_I'm so glad everything worked out well…_

_Tamar's happy, and was accepted nicely into the family._

_Latvia and those other silly Baltics…_

_They're a masterwork._

_Though, that Latvia…_

_He may be proof that there's hope for the world yet._

_Estonia, much less so._

_Lithuania is brave, and from what Tamar tells me, kind._

_I'm happy that she's happy with these people…_

_Then there's Sealand._

_The most absurd boy I have ever met._

_Still, though, Tamar likes him._

_And her sisters…_

_Belarus, or Natalya as Tamar insists that I call her._

_Meeting her has been an… experience._

_She's very strange, and how she acts around her brother…_

_I do no really approve._

_But they are entitled to happiness no less than I._

_And anyways, God hates the sin, not the person._

_But still…_

_It's a little bit disconcerting._

_And then there's Ukraine… Katyusha… Katya… whatever she wants to be called._

_Her… gift is as much a curse…_

_And she is in love with a partly-invisible man._

_An interesting tale to tell, I'm sure._

_I am glad that they're happy…_

_Then his brother… America…_

_He's a buffoon if nothing else._

_But it is a condition that is not reversible, sadly for him._

_On the thought of brothers…._

_My brother…_

_I feel much better after forgiving him._

_Though…_

_I go through my life filled with the joy of that life and the next…_

_But…_

_I don't feel happy._

_Perhaps, one day, I will find something that makes me infinitely happy._

_Not like the happiness it gives me to see Tamar smile._

_Or the temporary buzz it gives me when I…_

_Nevermind._

_I will find happiness one day._

_But for today…_

_Demetrius still owes me that story._

* * *

I'm going to miss this story so much... there is one chapter after this. It will contain hugs. Anyone who reviews will have the opportunity to hug a character, (or in the case of shadowofcanada, many characters. This is okay if you really want to) at their request. SO PLEASE GIVE HUGS TO THE POOR CHARACTERS! Even though their lives are a bit better now... but for past occurances. Or for the sake of hugging Russia (You know you want to). So review, and hug characters! Because they wants to be hugged. Until I get at least one more person who wants to hug, the next chapter cannot be written... more would be preferred. Kay? Kay. Buhbye! *glares demanding review* Bai bai! *Happy wave. Secret flag saying 'review' pops up* Toodles! *Voice of reason speaks in your ear. "Review this story. Review this story. Yes."*


	21. Polite Postscript and Explanation

Living Secret: Postscript (Because some people don't appreciate I'm creatively broke… just like Aladdin)

Having already studied the history of the country of Georgia, let me elaborate on my reasoning for the things I did. I am not naive in the characters I create. I therefore would politely, although strongly and quite earnestly, ask that I not be given history lessons. This is not meant as a personal attack, and I understand any reader's concern who wishes to bring up a topic of particular interest to that reader. I also, therefore, would urge the reader not to be too unhappy with this explanation, as the sole purpose and intent of this postscript is to simply and honestly defend what I have written and why I have written it, and anything that seems to any reader as offensive is purely coincidental. Now, please enjoy this explanatory postscript. Spaseeba~!

**Why does Georgia have a crazy obsession with the color orange?:** Rather like Poland's "like totally ponyfied" accent, this has no purpose other than to serve its author's strange fancies.

**Why on earth is Georgia six years old? She is, in fact, an incredibly old country!: **Actually, a unique, modern Georgian culture began to appear during the World Wars, where Georgia was no longer singularly grouped with Armenia or Russia, or both. As opposed to the old Georgians who marched to Jerusalem with Armenians, the new Georgians did not use swords and mail with crucifix tabards. But wait, author! TURKEY didn't have guns when his character was born. This is true. But Turkey's culture remained essentially 'Turkish' and unique to itself throughout all of that character's history. As a counterexample, as cultures evolved in Egypt and Greece, the characters changed from Mama Egypt and Mama Greece to the lovable stoic crack-annoying-people-on-the-head Egypt, and sleepy, kitty-loving Greece. Similarly, as the Georgian culture was given radical change during the World Wars, I thought it suitable to let that be the starting point for the character I was using. If you do not agree that that should be the starting point, forgive my creative inspiration.

**Why is Georgia's hair blonde? Dum de dum… why?:** A very, very fair question. Not all Georgian's heads have black hair, any more than all Russian's heads have blond. While it is quite common for this trait, there is a specific reason and point that the author was attempting to make by removing it. You want to know what it was? Well, the author wanted to show how the unique Georgian culture was somewhat a product of Russian culture. Because of this, the character for Georgia has been given certain traits that Russia has. Take the evil aura for example. While Russia has his evil purple aura, Georgia has her evil orange one. This is not because of any implication to Georgia directly, but simply a byproduct of the fact that the modern Georgian culture was inadvertently created by the Russian one. That make sense, kiddies? If not, I don't know what to tell you. Actually, yes I do. Please look up "symbolism" in the dictionary. That is all, children. ;)

**Author, author, me me me me next! Why did Georgia have a rocket, author?:** Well, I will tell you. Interestingly enough, authorship of literature is not limited to present or past events. WHAT? BUT AUTHOR, THAT WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD! Yes, annoying voice who is invading my explanation, yes it would. If you don't like that, don't read SciFi. Just a pointer. As it is, I LOVE SciFi, and things that could happen in the near future fascinate me. Why would Georgia be mad at Russia in the first place, author? Well, stupid voice, if you had paid attention to recent history, Georgia and Russia have not been getting along. In fact, Georgian terrorism is a major problem on that border. And the Russians like to invade at inopportune moments. SO, idiotic voice, the lesson you learn today is that heavy research is your friend.

As a final note, Georgia is my character. I enjoy my character very much. Telling an author that their character is wrong is like telling a musician that they wrote a song in the wrong key. Or telling a parent that their child is undesirable or bad. I'm sure all fellow authors will understand. Now, I have completed this postscript… there's not much else to say… except farewell, Living Secret. You were a good, fun, long story to play with. (NO THAT'S WHAT SHE SAIDS.) And farewell, readers. I hope we meet again on some other review page for some other story.


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